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Gireesan Nair & Ors. vs. State of Kerala

Criminal Appeal · 2022 INSC 1199Decided 11 Nov 2022
Criminal Appeal Nos. 1864-1865 of 2010
B.R. Gavai · Pamidighantam Sri Narasimha

Background

During protests in Thiruvananthapuram in July 2000 against the state's decision to delink pre-degree courses from colleges, a mob clashed with police, damaged 81 KSRTC buses, and a bus conductor died. Several accused, including the appellants, were convicted by the trial court and the Kerala High Court of rioting and damaging public property, based substantially on their identification by witnesses in Test Identification Parades held after their arrest. The appellants challenged their conviction before the Supreme Court, attacking the manner in which the identification parades were conducted.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court found serious irregularities in both TIPs. The accused were kept in police custody for days before the parades, were allegedly photographed, videographed, and shown to witnesses by police officers before the parade, and a police officer (the investigating officer) was present during the identification process itself, which taints the exercise under Section 162 CrPC as per settled precedent (Chunthuram v. State of Chhattisgarh). The Court held that this delay, police presence, and pre-parade exposure of the accused to witnesses fatally undermined the credibility of the identification evidence, and since the TIP evidence was the mainstay of the prosecution's case, the conviction could not stand. The Court set aside the convictions and sentences under Sections 143, 147, 148 IPC and Section 3(2)(e) of the Prevention of Damages to Public Property Act read with Section 149 IPC, and acquitted the appellants of all charges.

Lesson Learnt

A Test Identification Parade loses its evidentiary value if the accused are exposed to witnesses beforehand or if police officers are present during the identification. Courts will not sustain a conviction built primarily on a compromised TIP.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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