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Journalism of Courage
“A dog’s identification of crime spot or accused cannot be conclusive unless the veracity of the dog’s identification pattern is established and studied properly,” said Patna High Court said while acquitting a rape-murder convict sentenced to death by an Araria court two years ago.
A division bench comprising Justices Ashutosh Kumar and Alok Kumar Pandey on Friday acquitted Amar Kumar, sentenced to death in October 2021 in connection with the rape and murder of a 12-year-old girl in August 2019.
After police found the body of a missing girl on August 5, 2019, they took help of a sniffer dog, which had led them to Amar’s house. Police used the sniffer dog’s identification to support the prosecution case and the local court sentenced him to death. Amar later challenged the verdict on plea of “denial of natural justice” without looking at all other evidence.
The HC acquitted him, saying: “Mere identification of a sniffer dog cannot be evidence unless a court verifies skill and veracity of the dog and pattern of his identification. Its handler’s ability also needs to be tested…” The court, however, said it did not ask police to stop seeking sniffer dogs’ help, but other aspects needed to be looked into to present it as proof.
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