In Brief
The Supreme Court dismissed the State's appeals challenging the High Court's acquittal of four accused persons in a communal riot case where a senior official died. The Court held that multiple investigative failures—including an unexplained 55-day delay in conducting the Test Identification Parade, prior exposure of accused to witnesses, contradictions regarding the weapon and forensic evidence, failure to examine a key injured witness, and the improbability of identifying four specific individuals from 200-300 rioters without distinguishing marks—disabled the prosecution's case. The Court reaffirmed that suspicion cannot replace proof and that the benefit of doubt from faulty investigation must accrue to the accused, not the prosecution.
The lawyer headnote and full judgment text are available to registered users.