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HP High Court Acquits Two in 18-Year-Old Liquor Smuggling Case, Citing Flawed Identification

Shimla: The Himachal Pradesh High Court, in a significant ruling on criminal procedure, has acquitted two men convicted in an 18-year-old liquor smuggling case, highlighting the unreliability of identifying an accused for the first time in court without a prior Test Identification Parade (TIP). Justice Rakesh Kainthla overturned the concurrent convictions of Sunil Kumar and another, setting aside judgments from both the Trial Court and the Additional Sessions Judge.

A Midnight Chase and Questionable Identity

The case dates back to December 17, 2006, when police on patrol near Palampur attempted to stop two Maruti vans at 1:00 AM. The vans sped away but were intercepted after a short chase. The drivers abandoned their vehicles and escaped into the darkness. Police recovered 228 bottles of country liquor from the vans and claimed to have identified the fleeing drivers as "Billa" and "Jitru" in the light of their vehicle's headlights.

The accused, Sunil Kumar and Ashok Kumar, were subsequently charged under Section 61(1)(a) of the Punjab Excise Act. Both the Trial Court and the Appellate Court convicted them, relying on the police witnesses' in-court identification and holding that joining independent witnesses was not feasible late at night.

Petitioners' Arguments: A Case of Mistaken Identity

Before the High Court, counsel for the petitioners argued that the prosecution's entire case rested on a shaky foundation of identification. Key arguments included:

* The police had no prior acquaintance with the accused and only had a fleeting glance of them running away in the dark.

* The prosecution failed to establish that the accused, Sunil Kumar and Ashok Kumar, were the same individuals known as "Billa" and "Jitru."

* The owner of one of the seized vehicles turned hostile, denying that he had employed one of the accused as his driver.

* Crucially, no Test Identification Parade (TIP) was ever conducted to confirm the witnesses' identification.

High Court's Scrutiny of Dock Identification

Justice Rakesh Kainthla, while acknowledging the limited scope of revisional jurisdiction, found a patent error in law in the lower courts' findings. The court determined that the identification of the accused was not satisfactorily proven.

The judgment emphasized that identification of an accused for the first time in the dock, especially when the witness is a stranger to the accused, is a weak piece of evidence. Justice Kainthla observed:

> "The witnesses identified the drivers as Billa and Jitru, and they did not state that they were also known as Sunil Kumar and Ashok Kumar... Therefore, the burden was upon the prosecution to establish the identity of the accused."

The court cited the Supreme Court's ruling in P. Sasikumar v. State of T.N. (2024) , which held that when an accused is not known to the witness, their identification in the dock is not acceptable without being corroborated by a prior TIP.

The Court quoted the treatise Cross on Evidence , stating that dock identification is "highly suspect" because a witness may be influenced by the assumption that the police must have apprehended the correct person.

> "In the present case, the Test Identification Parade was not conducted, and the identification of the accused in the Court could not have been used to fix their identity," the judgment concluded.

Final Verdict and Implications

Holding that the prosecution failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the accused were the drivers of the vehicles, the High Court ruled that the seizure of liquor could not be connected to them.

The Court allowed the revision petition, setting aside the judgments of the lower courts and acquitting Sunil Kumar and the co-accused. They were directed to furnish personal bonds under Section 437-A of the Cr.P.C. to ensure their appearance before the Supreme Court if the state files an appeal. The decision serves as a strong reminder of the procedural safeguards necessary to prevent miscarriages of justice based on flawed identification evidence.