The Kerala High Court on Wednesday stayed till December 10 the examination of two witnesses in the ongoing trial of the Sr. Abhaya death case for adducing evidence relating to the narco-analysis test done on the accused in the case.
The stay order came on a petition filed by Fr. Thomas Kottur and Sr. Stephy, accused, challenging the Thiruvananthapuram Central Bureau of Investigation Special Court order rejecting the plea of the accused against the examination of the two witnesses.
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The CBI Special Court had issued summons to N. Krishnaveni and Pravin Parvathappa, witnesses, for adducing evidence on the narco-analysis test conducted on the accused.
The petitioners said the summons were ordered without hearing the public prosecutor or defence counsel.
As a result, the defence counsel was not able to raise objection to the issue of summons.
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In fact, the final report did not mention any facts that had been discovered when they were subject to the narco-analysis test.
If such an examination was allowed it would provide undue benefits to the prosecution to bring in inadmissible evidence on record and would cause irreparable injury to the petitioners, the petition said.
The petitioners also pointed out that materials that could not be considered for framing charges should not be brought in during trial as evidence.
Even the CBI Special Court had concluded that the result of scientific tests in the case could not be considered for framing charges.