In Brief
The State of Uttar Pradesh appealed a High Court order acquitting four men (Wasif Haider, Mumtaz, Hazi Atiq, and Safat Rasool) of charges relating to the death of an official during communal riots in 2001. The lower court had convicted them under Sections 302, 307, and 148 IPC based primarily on identification evidence from a Test Identification Parade (TIP). The Supreme Court upheld the acquittal, finding critical investigative flaws: the TIP was delayed 55 days without explanation; forensic evidence contained contradictions; the place of occurrence was imprecisely established; and key material witnesses were not examined. The Court held that multiple lapses compounded to fortify the presumption of innocence, and that suspicion cannot substitute for proof beyond reasonable doubt.
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