BANGALORE: The Government has said it intends to set up a centre for brain sciences with state-of-art facilities for conducting polygraph tests, narcoanalysis and brain mapping.

The Chief Secretary B.K. Das informed the court of the Government's plan in an affidavit filed on Tuesday. The court had asked him to provide details of the staff position in the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL), Bangalore, and the reason for the delay in conducting polygraph tests and narcoanalysis.

A Division Bench, comprising Justice R. Gururajan and Justice Jawed Rahim, accepted the affidavit and asked the State to file an additional affidavit. They adjourned hearing of the case.

The affidavit stated that the FSL, Bangalore, was set up following a Government Order of July 9, 1999. It now had only one expert in the forensic psychology division, S. Malini, to conduct brain mapping and narcoanalysis. It said narcoanalysis was conducted with the help of an anaesthetist in an operation theatre in a government hospital.

It said the lack of experts in brain mapping, clinical psychology and anaesthesia, and the lack of a facility for conducting narcoanalysis were the main reasons for the delay in conducting the procedures. Brain mapping for retrieval of crime information was done only at FSL, Bangalore, it said.

Even though clinical psychologists were available at the Central Forensic Science Laboratory, Central Bureau of Investigation, New Delhi, brain mapping and narcoanalysis were not done. No other State FSL, except those in Karnataka and Gujarat, dealt with cases that require brain mapping and narcoanalysis.

The affidavit said the tenure of Dr. Malini was being extended. Regularisation of her service would be considered.

Additional staff for the FSL would be provided, including an anaesthetist, resident doctor, clinical psychologist, three scientific officers and laboratory assistants, it said.

It estimated that the FSL would need about Rs. 5 crore for creating additional infrastructure and manpower.

Notices ordered

The High Court on Tuesday ordered issue of notices to the police inspector of Sampangiramnagar and another respondent on a contempt petition by B. Sreepathy Rao, general secretary of the Janata Dal (United).

In his petition, Mr. Rao alleged that Inspector Davis Meshak and another police official assaulted him on June 23, 2005.

He said that the next day he was produced before a city court. He filed a contempt petition saying that the police had arrested him illegally and in violation of the Supreme Court guidelines on arrests as enunciated in the D.K. Basu case.

A Division Bench, comprising Justice S.R. Bannurmath and Justice Subash B. Adi, ordered issue of notices to the respondents and asked them to be present in the court on July 4.

Petition

A Division Bench, comprising Justice B. Padmaraj and Justice S. Abdul Nazeer, on Tuesday ordered issue of notices to the State Government and other respondents on a public interest litigation (PIL) petition by the Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha, Hiriyur branch, in Chitradurga district.

The sangha and seven others had prayed for a direction to the authorities to withdraw the order of forfeiture of lands of those who had not paid taxes in the Vani Vilas Sagar Dam area.

The petitioners said they were agriculturists. The dam was constructed 100 years ago. As rains failed from 1999 to 2003, water storage in the dam had come down considerably.

This affected agriculture. However, the revenue authorities issued notices on payment of taxes, they added.

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