In Brief
The appellant was convicted under Section 302 and 307 read with Section 34 IPC for the murder of Amit Kumar Sundriyal and attempted murder of Ramesh Chand Sundriyal (the injured eye-witness). The appellant challenged the validity of his Test Identification Parade (TIP), contending that since his photograph appeared in a newspaper after arrest and the witness had seen it, the TIP was worthless. The Supreme Court held that a TIP is merely an investigative aid, not substantive evidence. The substantive evidence is in-court identification. Since PW-1 was an injured eye-witness to the crime itself and identified the appellant in court, the conviction was sustainable even if the TIP had defects. The appeal was dismissed."
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