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True or False: “An accused has an absolute right to demand a narco-analysis test.”

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Narco-analysis is neither a right nor a punishment. It is a regulated scientific procedure permitted only with consent + court order.
Updated On: Jul 10, 2026
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Approach Solution - 1

The statement sounds appealing because it treats consent as if it were a switch the accused alone controls, but that is not how Selvi v. State of Karnataka (2010) actually works.

Consent removes the constitutional bar under Article 20(3); it does not create a new right. Once an accused agrees to a narco-analysis test, the state is no longer compelling them, so the test becomes permissible to conduct. That is very different from saying the accused can force the investigating agency, or a court, to arrange the test simply because they want it done.

The Supreme Court was explicit that narco-analysis is scientifically unreliable as a method of establishing truth, since a person's memory and speech can be distorted under the drug regardless of whether they intended to lie. A technique the Court itself distrusts is not one it will hand over as an entitlement to either side of a criminal case.

In practice, narco-analysis can only proceed with the accused's informed consent, agreement of the investigating agency, and, generally, judicial sanction with the safeguards Selvi laid down, such as the presence of a lawyer and recording of the procedure. None of that adds up to an absolute right for the accused to demand the test.

The statement is therefore false: consent is a necessary condition for the test to happen, not a guaranteed right to have it happen.

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Approach Solution -2

Breaking the claim into a short logical chain shows exactly where it fails.

Premise one.
A legal right must be recognised by the Constitution, a statute, or binding precedent as belonging to a person, giving them the power to insist on a particular outcome.

Premise two.
Selvi v. State of Karnataka (2010) recognises that an accused may refuse to undergo narco-analysis, since compelling the test violates Article 20(3). This is a right to refuse, held by the accused against the state.

Premise three.
The same judgment holds that an accused cannot insist on undergoing the test either, because narco-analysis is not scientifically reliable and the decision to administer it rests with the investigating agency and the court, subject to the accused's informed consent as one necessary condition among several.

Conclusion.
By premise one, a right requires recognised legal power to insist on an outcome. By premise three, no such power exists in favour of the accused with respect to narco-analysis. The claim in the question asserts exactly this missing power, so it does not describe the actual legal position.

The refusal side of Selvi is real; the demand side that the statement asserts is not, so the correct evaluation of the statement is false.

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