JUDGMENT - M.F. SALDANHA, J. :---A very unusual situation has arisen in this appeal. During the investigation, assistance of tracker-dog Kumar was made use of by the police and the bag and clothes of the accused were recovered with the assistance of this tracker dog, who also led the police to the house of the accused. The admissibility of this evidence and, more importantly, the evidentiary value of dog-tracking evidence has been seriously questioned and, therefore, requires to be examined and the issues decided. Investigating agencies often use the services of tracker-dogs and the question, therefore, arises as to how reliable is this class of evidence. The orthodox view was that though it is admissible, it is not of much utility and consequently, that it did not ordinarily have much weight. There has been considerable development of research and thinking on the subject and the modern trend is that such evidence is of an extremely high calibre.

2. Undoubtedly, evidence in criminal cases, and in particular ones where the charges are serious, must pass the dual tests of absolute reliability and infallibility. That a tracker dog cannot be influenced is something strongly in its favou

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