Se.Abhaya Case might turn now

Narco-test admitted as evidence in court
BY AMITA VERMA in ASIAN AGE 2008 Oct 7

LUCKNOW Oct. 6: In a landmark decision that could have an impact on several other cases, a district court in Faizabad has admitted a narco-analysis test report as an evidence against the accused.

The Faizabad district court rejected the bail plea of Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) legislator Anand Sen Yadav after admitting his narco-analysis test report as an evidence against him in the Shashi murder case.

A narco-analysis test was conducted on the Bahujan Samaj Party leader in January 2008 and during the test, he had admitted to having relations with the victim Shashi.

"As per the ruling of the Supreme Court, a narco-analysis test report is not admissible in the court as evidence but in this case the court has acknowledged it as an important piece of evidence," prosecution lawyer Saeed Khan said on telephone on Monday.

Yadav’s lawyer, Awadhesh Yadav, meanwhile said that he would soon move the high court against the district court’s decision to accept the narco-analysis test report as an evidence.

Legal experts in Lucknow feel that if the district court’s decision to admit the narco-analysis report is withheld by higher courts, it could have a bearing on several other cases — most importantly the Aarushi murder case.

"In blind cases, whether it is Aarushi case, Kavita Choudhury case or the Shashi case, the narco-analysis report can provide crucial evidence and the accused can be convicted if it is admitted as an evidence," said senior high court lawyer Sandeep Dixit.

It may be recalled that Shashi, a dalit student of a post-graduate college in Faizabad, went missing in October 2007 and her father Yogendra Prasad blamed Yadav — then a minister in the Mayawati government — for his daughter’s abduction and suspected murder.

Though the police failed to recover Shashi’s body, Yadav’s driver Vijay and his friend Seema Azad confessed to their involvement in the abduction and murder of Shashi, reportedly at the behest of the Bahujan Samaj Party leader.