Call it coincidence, but CPM mouthpiece Deshabhimani has raised doubts about the reliability of the narcoanalysis in police investigations on a day when a magistrate court ordered the test on two criminals, Om Prakash and Puthenpalam Rajesh, accused in the Muthoot murder case. The case had triggered a debate on the alleged links the CPM leaders had with criminal gangs.

If the party daily was not convinced about the effectiveness of the test, a few weeks back the party-controlled Kairali TV had telecast video tapes of the narcoanalysis conducted on two priests and a nun accused in the Sister Abhaya murder case. The channel had then said the test had clearly revealed the role of the accused in the murder.

Following the Muthoot case, the CPM-led state government was forced to jail a couple of local leaders who had been in the wanted list of the police. The police had sought polygraph and narcoanalysis for Om Prakash and Rajesh to look into whether they had any links with the murder, other than destroying evidence. The magistrate court at Ramankarai in Alappuzha, which had earlier heard the prosecution plea on the narco and polygraph, reserved the verdict for Tuesday. On the same morning, the CPM daily published the edit-page article.

The article, authored by Dr N M Muhammedali, said the controversial test was torture in disguise. “It is the denial of the fundamental rights of a person. In the modern times, an accused person has every right not to confess to the crime and divulge his mind to the police. In developed nations, the outcome of the test is not reckoned as evidence. In the narco test, police can elicit the required information from an accused,” said the article.

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