Najeeb case: HC orders suspects’ polygraph test

New Delhi, February 10 

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The Delhi High Court today said it had asked the police to explore other avenues of probe, such as a polygraph test of persons connected with missing JNU student Najeeb Ahmed, as all other leads have not yielded any result.

“The student had gone missing in October (2016), it is February now. Nearly four months have gone by and none of the leads are going anywhere. We asked for polygraph test as the other leads have not yielded any results,” a Bench of justices GS Sistani and Vinod Goel said. 

The Bench was hearing an application by one of the nine students, who are suspects in the case, seeking recall of the high court’s December 14 and December 22, 2016 orders.

According to the application, by these two orders the court was regulating the manner of investigation and therefore, prejudiced the probe and violated their rights under Articles 21 and 22 of the Constitution.

The student has also challenged a notice issued to him by the Delhi Police to appear before the trial court today to give consent for lie-detector test.

Delhi Government’s senior standing counsel Rahul Mehra opposed the application, saying the same student has moved a similar plea through another lawyer earlier and the high court had on January 23 disposed it of by asking the student to come forward.

Mehra said the present application was a “gross abuse of the process of court” and added that by moving such pleas “the police were being forced to venture into areas where it had been abstaining from doing so till now”. He said students should “behave as students” and they “are not above the law”.

The lawyer for the student said he was aggrieved by the language used in the notice sent by the police which appeared to be over-reacting.

The Bench told the lawyer that if the student did not want to undergo lie detector test, he can refuse to do so. But in the instant case “the students should assist the police by coming forward voluntarily and joining the probe”, it said. 

The Bench said the police had not taken the suspected students to the police station for months after Najeeb went missing, which was not usually the case, and added “so can we accuse them of over-reacting or under-reacting?” 

“If the roommate of the missing student has been asked to undergo a lie-detector test, then logically why not those students with whom he (Najeeb) had a scuffle and quarrel,” the Bench asked.

“We are not saying that just because they had a scuffle with him, they have done anything to him. Why should they feel cornered? You can go today. If you want to say yes, say yes.

“If you want to say no, say no. Don’t be apprehensive. Law is open for you. Don’t be over-sensitive,” the Bench said and listed the matter for hearing on February 13. It also said the court was not monitoring the investigation as was being apprehended by the student and it was only giving suggestions to trace out Najeeb. — PTI