Identification parade must for nailing rape accused

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Friday acquitted three rape accused on the ground that they were not produced before the victim during a Test Identification Parade (TIP). The judgement will affect the Kandhamal nun’s rape case. The personal identification of the accused by the nun becomes extremely important to nail the rapists.

The Orissa government hurried to move court for a direction asking the victim (the Kandhamal nun who was raped in August) to pinpoint the accused who raped her and later paraded her naked in the streets.

In the aforesaid case, the apex court underlined the statement of the accused, saying there was no material to link the accused with the rape. The trial court had held that there was no test identification parade in the eye of law and this view was affirmed by the high court.

Criminal law expert Ramesh Gupta says that even though there may have been witnesses to the rape or the incidents that unfolded, it is important for the victim to personally attend the TIP.

“Not attending the TIP personally would only amount to weakening the case. A personal account by the victim is always given more credibility than the account of the witness in any court of law,” Gupta said.

The sole purpose of the parade is to ascertain the identity of the accused if she did not already know the accused. The parade does not necessarily mean seeing the accused to establish the identity.

“If a rape victim is visually challenged, she obviously cannot see the accused. In such a case, other ways of identification are applied, like identifying the voice of the accused or a semen test,” Gupta said.
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