The identification of an accused person in a test identification parade is admissible as evidence and can be sufficient to establish the guilt of the accused, provided that the identification is reliable and the accused is not prejudiced by any irregularity in the identification procedure.

1. These three appeals arise out of a common judgment of the trial Court. Therefore, they have been heard together and are being disposed of by this common judgment.

2. In Criminal Appeal No. 198 of 1985(R), the two appellants are Kalipado Gope and Paramjeet Singh. Both of them have been convicted under S.395 of the Penal Code and each one of them has been sentenced to ten years rigorous imprisonment. In Criminal Appeal No. 199 of 1985(R), Shashi Shekhar Bhogta is the sole appellant. He has been convicted under S.412 of the Penal Code and sentenced to eight years rigorous imprisonment. In Criminal Appeal No. 214 of 1985(R), the three appellants are Jadu Gope, Ram Singh Manjhi and Ignis Ekka. All the three appellants have been convicted under S.395 of the Penal Code and each one of them has been sentenced to ten years rigorous imprisonment. In addition, Jadu Gope has also been convicted under S.412 of the Penal Code and sentenced to eight years rigorous imprisonment. In his case, the sentences are to run concurrently.

3. In the evening hours at about 8 p.m. of 3-5-1985 a dacoity took place in the shop of Arjun Lal Gupta. It was a grocery shop, named and styled as "Shankar Stores". It is situated at Plaza Market, Telco. It was alleged that certain miscreants variously armed with lethal weapons, such as Bhujali, pistol etc. entered the shop, disconnected the telephone wire, caused injuries to P. W. 4, the proprietor of the shop and P.W. 1, a servant employed in the shop. The miscreants took away cash amounting to Rs. 12,000.00 and also a scooter ring belonging to P.W. 4, on which the word Paras was inscribed. His wrist watch was also snatched away. After committing dacoity, a bomb was exploded at a distance of ten yards from the shop and the miscreants escaped. There were plenty of shops in the surrounding which were all open. Tube lights in the shops and the light on the road were burning. It was also learnt that the miscreants had also snatched another wrist watch from a resident of another Qr. No. R/143. The dacoity was committed for about 7-8 minutes and the miscreants were all among the age group of 20 to 30 years. The injured, Arjun Lal Gupta (P.W. 4) was taken to the hospital where his Fard-beyan was recorded at 9.30 p.m. and a formal first information report was drawn up. The place of occurrence, namely, "Shankar Stores" is located within a distance of 21/2 K.Ms. from TELCO T.O.P. The first information report was recorded against seven or eight unknown dacoits. After completing investigation, charge-sheet was submitted on 31-5-1985 against six accused persons. Accused Ignes Ekka was shown as absconder. He was subsequently arrested and then a supplementary charge-sheet was submitted on 4-7-1985. The case was committed to the Court of Sessions and the appellants were put on trial. Before the Sessions Judge, charges were framed under Ss.395 and 412 of the Penal Code. It was read over and explained to the accused persons in Hindi to which they pleaded not guilty and claimed to be tried. The defence was a complete denial of the occurrence and false implication.

4. Out of the seven accused persons including the six appellants, co-accused Lobin Bhomij was acquitted of the charges because in his case, there was no identification. As against others, the learned Sessions Judge, on consideration of the oral and documentary evidence, found that the prosecution established its case beyond all reasonable doubt, and, therefore, convicted and sentenced them as stated above.

5. In their examination under S.313 of the Criminal P.C., they denied the charges levelled against them. From the trend of cross-examination and suggestions given to the witnesses, the defence of the appellants appears to be that the Investigating Officer (P.W. 9) got them identified by the witnesses either in the police lock up at the police station or at the time of remand by the Court or in Jamshedpur Jail prior to holding of the test identification parade.