A Delhi court on Thursday dismissed a police plea for permission to conduct brain mapping test on Abdul Karim Tunda after the arrested top LeT bomb expert refused to give his consent for it, citing his old age and health problems.
Tunda, who was produced before the chief metropolitan magistrate Amit Bansal, told the court that he does not want to undergo a brain mapping test. ‘I am a person of about 72 year of age and I am suffering from various ailments. Recently, a pacemaker has also been inserted inside my body and I am also suffering from high blood pressure. In these circumstances, I do not want that brain mapping test conducted upon me.
‘I specifically decline my consent to conduct the test. I understand the meaning and consequences of this,’ Tunda told the court. The special cell of Delhi police had on Thursday moved an application for court’s permission to conduct Tunda’s brain mapping test in a bid to unearth the terrorist network of his associates in India and Pakistan.
During the arguments on the application, advocate M S Khan, who appeared for Tunda, told the court that an accused cannot be compelled to undergo such a test.
He also cited a 2010 judgment passed by a three-judge bench of the Supreme Court saying such tests cannot be conducted on the accused in the absence of his consent.
Public prosecutor Rajiv Mohan too referred to the same judgement of the apex court saying certain guidelines were framed by the bench in this regard. The court, however, declined the police plea citing Tunda’s old age, his health condition and his refusal to give his consent.
The police in its plea had said that the test would help them probe ‘grand conspiracies’ being hatched by ‘forces inimical to the security and sovereignty of the nation.’