SC acquits RSS sympathiser in a murder case
New Delhi, Apr 30 (UNI) The Supreme court has acquitted an RSS sympathiser who was given life imprisonment for killing a member of a minority community in Tirupur in Tamil Nadu.
A bench comprising Justices S B Sinha and Markandey Katju gave the benefit of doubt to the appellant Ravi alias Ravi Chandran who was found guilty of stabbing to death one John Basha on August 9, 1993, whom he suspected to be involved in an incident of throwing bomb at RSS office.
The trial court on September 17, 1996 found the appellant guilty of murder and his associate Uday Kumar was convicted for attempt to murder.
In all, five accused were also tried for the offence of hatching a conspiracy against the minority community. The Madras High Court dismissed their appeal.
The photographs of the two accused along with their names were published in a Tamil daily ''Dinakaran'' and Test Identification Parade (TIP) was not held properly to establish the identity of the accused persons.
The
court,
while
setting
aside
both
the
trial
and
high
court
judgement,
noted
''in
a
case
of
this
nature
it
was
incumbent
upon
the
prosecution
to
arrange
a
TIP.
Such
TIP
was
required
to
be
held
as
early
as
possible
so
as
to
exclude
the
possibility
of
the
accused
being
identified
either
at
the
police
station
or
at
some
other
place
by
the
concerned
witnesses
or
with
reference
to
the
photograph
published
in
the
Newspaper.
A
conviction
should
not
be
based
on
a
vague
identification.
He
is,
in
our
opinion,
at
least
entitled
to
benefit
of
doubt.
The
appeal
is
allowed
the
appellant
shall
be
released
forthwith
if
not
required
in
any
other
case.''
UNI