TYTLER SAYS NO TO LIE TEST
Congress leader Jagdish Tytler, who has been given a clean chit by CBI in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots case, has told a Delhi court he wasn’t ready to undergo a lie detector test as it would amount to ‘cruelty’.
NEWDELHI: Congress leader Jagdish Tytler, who has been given a clean chit by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in a 1984 anti-Sikh riots case, told a Delhi court on Thursday that he is not ready to undergo a lie-detection test as it amounts to cruelty.
Tytler’s counsel objected to the test, saying the CBI has not given any reason for conducting it and the agency’s plea for the test was a “gross misuse of law” and it was filed with “mala fide intention”.
He also filed a list of events since the riots broke out till now to which the victims’ counsel said they would a reply to it.
Additional chief metropolitan magistrate Shivali Sharma listed the matter for April 18 for further arguments on the CBI’s plea for permission to conduct the test on Tytler and arms dealer Abhishek Verma. The move came in pursuance to the court’s December 4, 2015, order in which it was mentioned that the lie-detection test may be conducted, if required.
Verma, a witness in the case, also told the court that he was ready for the polygraph test if he is provided with adequate security as he apprehends threat to his life as well as to his family. He also said he was ready to record his statement before a magistrate.
The CBI prosecutor, however, did not agree with the proposal of recording Verma’s statement and said the consent for polygraph test should be unconditional. Advocate Prabhsahay Kaur, who represented the victims, questioned the CBI as to why it was refusing to record the statement when the witness was ready for it.
She also said that the witness should be given proper security if he apprehends threat to his life.
Meanwhile, the CBI filed a status report before the court in a sealed cover regarding its further probe in the case.
The case pertains to riots at Gurdwara Pulbangash in north Delhi where three people were killed on November 1, 1984, a day after the assassination of then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.
Tytler, who has denied any role in the riots, has been given a clean chit by the CBI thrice.