Court quashes order in JNU missing student's case

A sessions court here on Wednesday set aside a lower court order that directed nine JNU students to appear before it to record their consent or refusal for a lie-detector test in case of missing JNU student Najeeb Ahmed.

Additional Sessions Judge Siddharth Sharma quashed a magisterial court's order dated March 30 and rejected notice of the Delhi Police.

However, the court granted liberty to the investigating officer to issue fresh notice related to lie detector test of the students as per guidelines.

The sessions court said that the magistrate should have directed the investigating officer to withdraw the defective notice with the liberty to give a fresh notice.

The court's remark came while allowing a revision petition challenging magisterial court order file by nine JNU students.

On March 30, the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate had ordered the nine Jawaharlal Nehru University students to appear before it on April 6 "without fail" on a Delhi Police plea for recording their consent/refusal for polygraphy.

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, said the students' lawyer Vishwa Bhushan Arya.

On December 22, the Delhi High Court had directed police to conduct the tests on these JNU students regarding Najeeb Ahmed, who went missing in October 2016.

The Crime Branch told the court that the nine students had failed to join the investigation.

Ahmed, 27, an M.Sc. First Year student, allegedly went missing after a row with members of the RSS student wing Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad. It however denied any involvement in his disppearance.

--IANS

akk/vd