The accused students near the court on Monday. Picture by Bishwarup Dutta

Calcutta, Sept. 29: The two Jadavpur University students arrested for allegedly molesting a girl were denied bail today and sent to judicial custody till October 13 after police informed the court that she had identified the duo in a test identification parade.

The case will come up again on October 13 but the students may have to stay in jail till October 27 when the Alipore court, which passed today’s order, reopens after the Puja break. It will not hear their bail applications till then, and only a higher court can grant them the relief before that.

The students will still have to be produced in court on October 13 as no one can be kept in custody for more than 14 days at a stretch.

Today, the public prosecutor presented a document before the judge, additional chief judicial magistrate Haradhan Mukherjee, saying the victim had identified the duo.

In a test identification parade, the victim is asked to identify his/her attacker. Usually, persons of similar physical structure and resemblance are made to stand in a line and the victim asked to identify from among them.

Usually, the alleged offender has to be picked from a group of nine. This is done to make sure the victim is telling the truth and is able to identify the perpetrators even in a large group. The victim looks at the accused from a place where they cannot see her.

In this case, sources in Lalbazar said the girl identified the two students from a group of 18. The lawyer appearing for the two students, however, called the parade prejudiced and alleged that the police had taken the pictures of the duo on cellphones when they had been summoned to Jadavpur police station for questioning.

The lawyer alleged in court that the police showed the pictures to the girl so she could identify the two in the parade and help the police’s case.

“This is miscarriage of justice. The students had objected to their photos being taken. This was done in addition to the mandatory video recording of statements. The pictures have been shown to the girl so that she can identify these two boys,” argued Anirban Guha Thakurta, the duo’s lawyer.

Guha Thakurta also called the arrests illegal. “Around 15 students were called for questioning under section 41A of the Code of Criminal Procedure. They complied with the notice and appeared before the police,” said the lawyer.

Section 41A is a notice of appearance before an officer. “The Supreme Court has said in a judgment that if someone is arrested despite complying with the notice, the police must cite reasons. But here, the investigating officer has not cited any reason for the arrests despite the students complying with the notice. Hence, this arrest is illegal,” said Guha Thakurta.

But the police rejected the claims. “The allegation is wrong. (We) duly complied (with the Supreme Court directive),” joint commissioner (crime) Pallab Kanti Ghosh said.

In court, public prosecutor Suman Das said the investigation was still in the early stages and the students might tamper with the evidence if freed. He stressed the fact that the complainant had identified the duo.

“Besides, the statements of two friends of the girl, who were with her when she was molested, matched that of the victim’s. They have corroborated the statements made by the girl,” prosecutor Das said, opposing bail.

One of the arrested students is in the third year of civil engineering, the other in the second year of mechanical engineering. They were not brought into the courtroom on Monday, and were kept inside a police van on the court premises.

Around 15 Jadavpur University students had come to the court. “I do not know what more is in store,” said one of them.

Sources familiar with the investigation said the two arrested students had told the police about the presence of a former student, who allegedly led the attack on the girl.

“The arrested youths are claiming that a former student, who was present on the university campus on the night of August 28 when the incident happened, had taken the lead in assaulting the girl. They also claimed that after the incident, this youth, currently working with a private firm in Salt Lake, had threatened them not to reveal his name,” said a source in Lalbazar.

However, the police are yet to verify the claims made by the duo and are in process of zeroing in on the person reportedly mentioned by them.

Guha Thakurta, the students’ lawyer, termed the complaint of molestation false. “Why did she (the victim) go through a medical test after three days of the alleged molestation and assault? Such questions will crop up during the trial,” he told the judge.