In Brief
Ankush Maruti Shinde and others were convicted and sentenced to death for rape and murder based primarily on eyewitness identification. The Supreme Court allowed their criminal appeals and acquitted all accused. The Court found that identification of the accused in torchlight conditions inside an unlit hut was unreliable, compounded by the absence of forensic evidence, unexplained delays in conducting test identification parades, and serious doubts about visibility during the incident. The Court held that death sentences cannot rest solely on eyewitness testimony without independent corroborative evidence."
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