RAKESHSING JAGJYOTSING CHRISTIAN Vs. STATE OF GUJARAT

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The Supreme Court has, in the case of Rameshwar Singh v. State of J. and K (A.I.R. 1972 S.C. 102), emphasised the need for the holding of the identification parade soon after the arrest of the person alleged to be the miscreant. The Supreme Court has in this connection, observed:

(2.) The aforesaid observation makes it clear that the earlier the identification parade is held after the incident, the greater the chance of the identification by the witnesses being correct, because, in that case the possibility of their memory fading would be less than in a case where the identification parade is held long after the incident. It should be obvious that identification of the accused person at a parade held long after the incident will not command that credibility which an identification made at a parade held soon after the incident would. In this connection, even the question whether the long lapse of time between the occurrence of the incident and the holding of the identification parade was on account of any default on the part of the investigating authority or was not attributable to any such default may not also be of much significance.

(3.) v.State of U.P. A.I.R. 1988 S.C. 345, there was an unexplained delay of four months in holding the identification parade after the arrest of the accused and the Supreme Court observed that unexplained lack of promptitude in holding the test identification enured for the benefit of the accused. It is true that in this case, there was an unexplained delay and the question will be whether there was any unexplained delay in the case before us. However, even if there is no unexplained delay but there is a long lapse of time (for whatever reason) in holding the identification parade after the incident, the question as to whether the concerned witnesses will remember the features of the culprits for such a long time would arise for consideration and for deciding the question as to what value should be attached to the identification of certain persons as culprits at such an identification parade.