In Brief
A Sri Lankan national, Ranjan, legally arrived in India in 2009 and registered as a refugee. In 2021, he was arrested on allegations that he was the absconding accused "Sri" involved in an LTTE conspiracy case from 2015. The trial court and high court convicted him, relying primarily on two refugee witnesses' belated identification. The Supreme Court set aside the conviction, finding fatal mistaken identity. The Court held that the witnesses had never mentioned "Ranjan" as an alias for "Sri" in earlier trials spanning years, introducing it only after his arrest—a material improvement eroding credibility. The Court emphasized that absent reliable identification evidence, grave charges like terrorism cannot replace foundational criminal law standards requiring proof of identity.
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