Omission To Conduct TIP Of Recovered Articles Material When Case Is Based Solely On Recoveries: Supreme Court Acquits Murder Convict

The Supreme Court recently, in a matter where the prosecution had solely relied on the recovery of articles for convicting accused persons for murder, observed that failure to conduct a Test Identification Parade of the recovered articles was “sheer negligence and dereliction of duty”. While acquitting appellants/ accused persons charged with murder, the Court observed that, in cases where conviction is based on circumstantial evidence, every relevant fact must be linked with duly proved circumstances. “Therefore, this material omission on part of the Investigating Officer in not conducting a Test Identification Parade of the recovered articles, more particularly when the case of prosecution is based solely upon recoveries of these articles, has created holes in the fabric of the prosecution story, which are impossible to mend. Hence, the evidence led by the prosecution against the accused person is woefully short of the mandate to prove the case beyond reasonable doubt.” Thus, the impugned judgments of the Trial Court and High Court were quashed and the present appeal was allowed.