In Brief
A man was shot and killed in a Ganesh festival gathering in Mumbai in 1995. The Trial Court convicted five accused based on eyewitness identification and test identification parades. The High Court acquitted all accused, citing serious infirmities in the eyewitnesses' testimonies, major discrepancies in identification parades, and delays of one to over a year in conducting the parades. The Supreme Court upheld the High Court's acquittal, holding that when eyewitnesses have limited time to observe perpetrators during a chaotic incident, test identification parades must be conducted promptly. The significant delays, contradictions in evidence, and unreliability of witness recollection rendered identity unestablished beyond reasonable doubt, warranting benefit of doubt to the accused."
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