For the latest scientific appraisal of brain electro-physiology tests, the Lok Sabha Committee obtained a copy of the peer-review committee set up by the Home Ministry’s Directorate of Forensic Science. The 40-page report, is also now one of the annexures of the cash-for-vote report.

After visiting laboratories where brain-mapping tests were conducted in Bangalore and Gandhinagar, the high-level scientific committee, too, came to the conclusion that, as yet, the science was not developed enough for the electrophysiology-based technique to be used as admissible evidence in court.

The peer-review Committee, headed by D Nagaraja, Director of NIMHANS, Bangalore has stated that their review “suggests sub-optimal scientific basis for them (brain-mapping tests) to be used as evidence in court of law. Hence, they cannot be used in the court of law.”

Speaking to The Indian Express, Nagaraja said that the report had been submitted to the Home Ministry in May and that he had been approached by the Lok Sabha Secretariat to give them a copy of his findings.

The scientists have pointed out that several scientific parameters need to be put in place for brain-fingerprinting, especially since in India several languages and dialects are spoken. There needed to be a uniformity in laboratory procedures and standardization of probe presentations.

The Committee has noted: “Experimental works need to be subjected to transparent review by an expert committee to evaluate the validity and reliability of the findings. Only after this, this technique might have the potential to be used as one of the investigative tools.”