Mere refusal to participate in TIP doesn't prove offence:Court

Mere refusal to participate in a Test Identification Parade (TIP) is not sufficient to prove charges against an accused, a Delhi court has said while acquitting a bus driver of charges of causing death due to negligent driving.
Additional Sessions Judge Pulastya Pramachala, while setting aside the conviction and sentence awarded to the bus driver, said that prosecution failed to prove the charges against him beyond reasonable doubts.
"Mere refusal to participate in TIP in itself is not sufficient to prove the charges against accused. The onus did not shift upon the appellant to prove his innocence as the prosecution had not proved it with reasonable certainty that he was the driver of the offending bus," the court said.

TIP is a procedure in which the alleged offender is brought before witnesses and victims for identification.
Delhi resident Sunil Kumar in his appeal had challenged the conviction and sentence awarded to him. The trial court had awarded him 18 months jail term and had directed to pay a fine of Rs 5,000 after finding him guilty for rash and negligent driving leading to a death of the cyclist.
Kumar had contended that the trial court wrongly convicted him by not considering the fact that there is no public witness, who had identified him.

According to police, on November 24, 2004, the cyclist was hit by the bus driven by Kumar in rash and negligent manner in east-Delhi area.

The cyclist was taken to the hospital where he was declared brought dead. After that a case was registered and Kumar was named in a charge sheet for the offence committed under Section 279 and 304-A of IPC.
Kumar had pleaded not guilty before the trial court and claimed to be innocent as he was not driving the offending vehicle at the time of the accident.