New Delhi: A Delhi court recently rejected Delhi Police‘s plea for permission to conduct a polygraph test, layered voice stress analysis test and psychological test on six murder case accused, including the parents of the deceased girl.The court of additional session judge Alok Shukla observed that they could not be forced to undergo the evaluations. In an order dated May 29, it noted that it is settled law that compulsory or involuntary administration of a polygraph test on an accused violates the right against self-incrimination.The judge observed, “Since accused persons have not consented to conducting the tests, the court cannot force the accused persons to undergo the tests sought to be conducted by the investigating officer.”The court was hearing an application filed by the investigating officer of the New Ashok Nagar police station seeking permission to conduct the examinations on the six accused. The plea was filed regarding a 2020 case, where a missing woman’s husband filed a complaint that the six accused people kidnapped his wife.Initially, the FIR was registered for the offence of kidnapping, but later a body was found in a canal in Aligarh, which was identified by the complainant as his wife. Following this, murder charges were added to the case. A DNA test was conducted twice but did not match that of the accused parents, Ravinder Chaudhary and Suman. On this basis, the accused were granted bail in 2023.The judge noted that the accused persons objected to the investigation officer’s application for conducting the tests, saying the officer did not file any evidence to link the accused persons with the alleged crime and that there was no fresh evidence or material to warrant their evaluations. The court also noted the reply that the DNA profiling of the alleged body clearly states that accused number 1 and 3 are not the biological father and mother of the recovered body.The accused persons in the case are the woman’s father, Ravinder Choudhary, mother Suman, uncle Sanjay Choudhary, paternal uncle Om Prakash, cousin Pravesh and brother-in-law Ankit. All accused persons in the case have been given bail.
