Shimla lab to have brain-mapping facility

Bhanu P Lohumi

Tribune News Service

Shimla, March 12

The state government has decided to equip the State Forensic Science Laboratory (SFL), Junga, with the brain-mapping facility.

“Himachal will be the second state after Gujarat to have the facility and the test will cost Rs 55,000 plus 15 per cent service tax,” said Director, SFL, Arun Sharma, adding that the facility was started in Karnataka and Maharashtra, but discontinued.

The move will go a long way in providing scientific evidence in cases. Apart from brain mapping, the suspect detection system (SDS), a technique in which censors touch the body to know the response if the accused is telling the truth or lying, and layered voice analysis (LVA) will also be introduced in the forensic lab to have all related investigating tools under one roof.

“Brain mapping, also known as brain electrical oscillation signature profiling or brain fingerprinting, is a computer-based technology to identify criminals by scientifically measuring the brain waves to crime pictures, sounds and relevant words,” said Sharma.

It is a test that maps the brain to reveal ‘guilty knowledge’ and done to interpret the behoavior of a suspect and corroborate the investigating officers’ observation and the suspect’s statements. During the tests, forensic experts apply unique technologies to find out if the suspect’s brain recognises things from the crime scene that an innocent suspect would have no knowledge of.

In a nutshell, experts say the brain fingerprinting test also called the brain-mapping test matches information stored in the brain with information from the crime scene and studies have shown that an innocent suspect’s brain will not have stored or recorded certain information, which an actual perpetrator’s brain would have stored.

Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh, in his Budget speech, had said the state government was determined to make use of the technology for crime investigation to match with modern methods and would provide lie detector/ brain-mapping equipment to the directorate of forensic science, Junga.

He also proposed to establish a technical training centre with a cost of Rs 5 crore in Shimla.

Identifying criminals

• Brain mapping, also known as brain electrical oscillation signature profiling or brain fingerprinting,  is a computer-based technology to identify criminals by scientifically measuring the brain waves to crime pictures, sounds and relevant words
• The brain fingerprinting test, also called the brain-mapping test, matches information stored in the brain with information from the crime scene
• Studies have shown that an innocent suspect’s brain will not have stored or recorded certain information, which an actual perpetrator’s brain would have stored