In Brief
Three accused were convicted under Section 55(a) of the Kerala Abkari Act for unlawfully transporting 6090 litres of spirit in plastic cans without a licence. The Supreme Court allowed their appeal, holding that the conviction was unsafe. The Court found that identification evidence by witnesses 11-12 years after the incident, without Test Identification Parade and where witnesses had not previously known the accused, was too weak to sustain conviction. Critical documentary evidence regarding the truck's registered ownership from the RTO was not produced. The evidence linking accused No.1 to truck ownership relied on inadmissible confessional statements of accused No.2 and a witness who did not support the prosecution. The Court acquitted all three appellants and set aside the convictions."
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