LAHORE: The Lahore High Court held that the identification of an accused should not be exposed to the witnesses before the identification parade, particularly for the witness who has to identify him.

The court, therefore, directed the Inspector General of Police, Punjab, to ensure that in the future police officers should not expose the identity of the suspects arrested in any criminal case through the photograph, video graphs, the press, or electronic media until the suspects would put up for a test identification parade.

The court also directed the office to transmit a copy of the instant order to the IG Punjab and Regional Police Officer (RPO), Gujranwala for compliance.

The court passed these orders in a petition of Muhammad Ijaz who approached the court for post-arrest bail.

The court observed that the law assures an accused that his identity should not be exposed particularly for the witness who has to identify him before the magistrate during the proceedings of the identification parade.

The court observed that publicizing photographs of the accused publicly, either by showing the same to the witness or by publishing the same in any newspaper or programme, would create doubt in the proceedings of the identification parade.

The investigating officer has to ensure that there is no chance for the witness to see the accused in person before going to the identification parade or through any other mode, i.e., photograph, videograph, or the press or electronic media.

In the instant case, the incident occurred on March 22, 2022, and the matter was reported to the police against unknown accused persons for murdering Imran Masih.

The identification parade took place on April 28, 2022, under the supervision of magistrate Section 30, Gujranwala. The complainant - Adeel Masih had not identified the petitioner.

At the same time, the prosecution witness, Boota Gori, identified the petitioner with his role. During the identification parade, the petitioner objected that he was exposed to the witness.

The counsel for the petitioner submitted that the petitioner was exposed to electronic media.

The legal advisor of Samaa TV stated that the picture of the accused was provided to the reporters of Samaa News by the PRO, Gujranwala, office and the police officials did not inform him that the identification parade of the accused had not been conducted yet.

The CPO, Gujranwala, however, stated that the investigating officer put a mask over the accused to conceal his identity and produced pictures.

Besides, the images shown on the media reveal that a mask was not placed over the accused to hide his identity until he was put up for an identification parade.

The petitioner, therefore, tried to take advantage of the programme aired by Samaa News, wherein the picture of the petitioner was widely circulated.

The court allowed post-arrest bail to the petitioner Muhammad Ijaz and directed the RPO, Gujranwala, to probe into the matter and submit a detailed report.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023