“In view of detailed discussion and keeping in view the fact that both the accused persons have submitted in court today that they are not willing to undergo polygraph or narco analysis test, the [NIA] application is accordingly dismissed,” the Additional Sessions Judge, Designated Special Court, said in the order.

The court held that the NIA application pressing for the test was “not maintainable in the eyes of law and needs rejection outright for the reason that no voluntary consent statement of the accused in custody prisoners was taken by the agency”.

The NIA had sought the court permission to conduct polygraph test or narco analysis test of the accused – Bashir Ahmad Jothatd, son of Lal Jothatd, a resident of Baisaran Hill, Pahalgam, Anantnag, and Parvaiz Ahmed, son of Ghulam Hassan Jother, a resident of Masjid Shareef Batkote, Pahalgam, Anantnag. The investigation agency, which took over the probe into the terror incident from the J&K Police on April 26, had pleaded that the test was required and that the accused, arrested on April 22, had “harboured, provided food and other logistics support to the terrorists before commission of the crime”.

“The accused persons, presently in police custody, are inconsistent on various points in their statements and this is hampering investigation,” the agency told the court, submitting that a polygraph or narco test of the accused needs to be conducted “to get precise and substantial leads regarding the investigation”.

The accused persons are pony riders and belong to the Gujjar-Bakarwal community.