THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Kerala Police are planning to conduct brain mapping test on a 31-year-old tribal woman to shed light on the disappearance of her three-year-old daughter in Nilambur last year.
Sources said the Pookkottumpadam police will soon move the Nilambur Judicial Magistrate Court seeking the nod to conduct brain mapping on the woman, who hails from Cholanaikkan tribe – deemed a Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group – and is a person with intellectual disabilities.
They said the cops decided to seek the nod after they could not make any headway in the case as the woman did not reveal what happened to her child.
Brain mapping or brain fingerprinting is a technique in criminal investigation where the brain is prompted to “talk”. A few electrodes are attached to the scalp after which cues connected to the incident under probe are given.
They act as stimuli prompting the brain to generate waves as responses which are examined using a software. The technique was used in high-profile cases such as the Aarushi Talwar case and Sr Abhaya case.
As per an SC ruling, the test cannot be conducted without the subject’s informed consent. In the woman’s case, the consent of her immediate relatives are required. If the police get the nod, it will be the first instance of a female member of one of India’s most isolated and endangered tribal groups undergoing the test, said a source.
Polygraph, narcoanalysis ruled out
The child went missing in June 2024 from Achanala settlement. The relatives entrusted the child with her mother and ventured into the forest to collect honey. Sources said the woman herself was suffering from high fever that day. When the relatives returned, the mother and the daughter were missing.
While the woman was found wandering in the forest three days later, there was no trace of the child. The police were alerted about the child’s disappearance around two weeks later.
The police’s Special Operation Group, and officials from the local police and forest department held a massive combing operation in the Western Ghat forests, but could not locate the child. The mother too did not reveal what happened to her. As a result, the police failed to make any headway in the case.
The police decided to go for brain mapping as she was deemed unfit for polygraph and narcoanalysis tests. “Taking into consideration her health, it was decided to go for brain mapping, subject to nod from court,” said a police source.
The settlement where the woman resides can only be accessed after a three-hour trek through forest. The police officers had a tough time communicating with the community members as they kept moving. The language barrier – Cholanaikkans speak a distinct Dravidian language – and their isolationist policies also made things tough for the cops. However, they won trust of the community, who then allowed them to relocate the elder sibling of the missing child.