- (1.) H. C. Mital, J. In this bail application it has been urged that the appli cant though has been named in the F. I. R. , but still he is not known to the witnesses and, therefore, he claimed identification, but his application for identification was rejected and, therefore, he should be granted bail, as that is a circumstance creating doubt regarding the authenticity of the prosecution case.
(2.) THE facts in brief according to the prosecution are that on 18-7-1989 at 9-30 p. m. at a restaurant of the complainant's brother in Kuncha Sita Ram, P. S. Kotwali, Bareilly the applicant along with two other co-accused arrived and at their instigation he threw away the par aat from the shop whereupon Gyaneshwar objected, then the applicant Neeraj inflicted knife blows on Gyaneshwar. Immediately thereafter Rameshwar Dayal from the shop apposite to the restaurant arrived to interference, then the applicant Neeraj also inflict ed several knife blow on him. However, Rameshwar Dayal survived and Gyaneshwar died. THE applicant claimed identification on the plea that the witnesses did not know him. Learned counsel for the applicant relied on the decision in the case of Suresh Chand v. State, 1979 ALJ 1160 wherein Hon'ble V. N. Verma, J. after considering the various decisions including of the Hon'ble Supreme Court held : "when an accused claims identification it should normally be allowed in order to lend assurance to the statements of the eye-witnesses of the occurrence and in order to corroborate their statements from the result of the identification proceedings. If the accused is a stranger to the prosecution witnesses and he claims identification, his request in this regard must always be allowed because it is only by holding his test identification that the veracity of the eye-wit nesses could be checked. And if the prosecution turns down the accused' request for identification it runs the risk of the veracity of the eye-witnesses being challenged on that ground. In such a situation, it would not be proper to place much reliance on the evidence given by the witnesses in Court. " It was a case of dacoity wherein the appellant was alleged to have been caught on the spot and locked in a room and a person was sent to Police Station to make a report. After the report a Sub- Inspector arrived and appel lant was taken in custody and then to the Police Station. The appellant had denied to have taken part in the dacoity. He also denied to have been arrested on the spot. In the appeal it was alleged that the appellant was not put up for identification in spite of application. The witnesses did not know him. Under those circumstances the above view was taken by Hon'ble Verma, J.
(3.) IN the case of Jadunath Singh v. State of U. P. , AIR 1971 SC 363 after making reference to the various decisions of the various High Courts in which different views were taken, their Lordships relied on their earlier decision in the case of Prakash Chand Sogani v. State of Rajasihan, an unreported deci sion in Criminal Appeal No. 92 of 1956, dated 15-1-1957 (SC), and laid down as follows : "it seems to us that it has been clearly laid down by this Court that the absence of test identification in all cases is not fatal and if the accused person is well-known by sight it would be waste of time to put him up for identification. Of course, if the prosecution fails to hold an identification on the plea that the witnesses already knew the accused well and it transpires in the course of the trial that the witnesses did not know the accused previously, the prosecution would run the risk of losing its case. It seems to us that if there is any doubt in the matter, the prosecution should hold an identifica tion parade specially if an accused says that the alleged eye-witness did not know him previously. It may be that there is no express provision in the Code of Criminal Procedure enabling an accused to insist on an identification parade but if the accused does make an application and that application is turned down and it trans pires during the course of the trial that the witnesses did not know the accused previously, as pointed out above the prosecution will, unless there is some other evidence, run the risk of losing the case on this point. " (Underlined my own) The same view was reiterated by their Lordships of the Supreme Court in the case of Shri Ram v. The State of U. P. , AIR 1975 SC 175 the facts were different and their Lordships observed as follows : "it is correct to say that no rule of law requires that the oral testimony of a witness should be corroborated by evidence of identification. In fact, evidence of identification is itself a weak type of evidence. But the point of the matter is that the Court which acquitted Shri Ram was justifiably influenced by the consideration that though at the earliest stage he had asked that an identification parade be held, the demand was opposed by the prosecution and the parade was therefore not held. ";