Najeeb case: Court reserves order on lie detector test

NEW DELHI: A sessions court here on Wednesday reserved its order on a CBI plea for a polygraphy test on nine students in connection with disappearance of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) student Najeeb Ahmed.

Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Samar Vishal reserved order after counsel for the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and JNU students concluded their arguments.

The CBI has sought a lie-detection test on the nine students to ascertain facts related to the case.

Students' counsel Vishwa Bhushan Arya and Ujjwal Kumar told the court that, as per the National Human Rights Commission, the lie-detector test is not authorised by law and must be regarded as illegal unless it is voluntarily accepted.

The counsel urged the court to dismiss the plea, terming it "premature and not maintainable".

The counsel said that summoning the students to record their consent or refusal is nothing but coercive exercise.

During an earlier hearing, the court had allowed the CBI plea for an early hearing on the application for nod to the lie-detection test.

The CBI plea came after the Delhi High Court asked the agency to seek an early hearing in the trial court, which had earlier adjourned the matter for January 2018.

Ahmed, 27, a MSc First Year student, went missing on October 15 last year, after an alleged fight with members of the right wing students' outfit Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad. However, the students body denied any involvement.

In November last year, the Delhi Police Crime Branch – which was investigating the matter – had stated that it had interrogated an autorickshaw driver who ferried Ahmed from JNU to Jamila Milia Islamia, where he used to live before shifting to the JNU hostel.

The case again took a turn when a letter was delivered at Mahi-Mandvi hostel from Aligarh by a woman, who claimed to have seen Ahmed.

She had claimed that Ahmed had approached her in a market seeking help. But when Crime Branch officials reached the address mentioned in the letter, no one was found.

Later, Delhi Police said that Ahmed was seen in Darbhanga, Bihar, and a team was also rushed to trace him.