Law Notes Hub: BALLB Lecture Notes

  CONSTITUTIONAL VALIDITY OF POLYGRAPH TEST Constitutional Provisions In Indian Constitution there are various provisions which are related with the protection of the accused person.  In the Constitution of India, the provision of life, liberty and freedom has been given under Article 20 and 21 .  According to Article 20(3) “ no person accused of any offence shall be compelled to be a witness against himself” . ‘Involuntary’ is defined as an admission, especially by an individual who has been accused of a crime that is not freely offered but rather is precipitated by a threat, fear, torture, or a promise. Under this Article only an accused person can avail the protection if he is compelled to be a witness against himself. Every civilised society guarantees the right against self-incrimination as a fundamental of fair trial in a criminal offence. According to this principle, a person accused of a criminal offence cannot be forced to incriminate himself or yield ...

  MEANING AND DEFINITION  The term Polygraph refers to a process in which selected physiological activities are recorded.   According to the definition of Webster’s legal dictionary “a Polygraph is a device for measuring certain involuntary bodily responses, such as blood pressure and perspiration, from which an opinion is drawn as to whether or not the person being tested is telling the truth. It is also called a Lie Detector." There is no Indian legislation which defines Polygraph, but United States Employees Protection Act of 1988 defines the term ‘Polygraph’ which means an instrument which-    a) Records continuously visually, permanently and simultaneously as minimum instrumentation tendered; and   b)  Is used, or the result of which are used, for the purposes of rendering a diagnostic opinion regarding the honesty or dishonesty of an individual.  HISTORICAL BACKGROUND The polygraph was invented in 1921 by John Augustus Larson...