Identification by Torch light or by voice
28. Identification by Voice:- When an identical situation arose, the Kerala High Court in Joseph v. State of Kerala, held thus:
10. In any view identification by voice is a risky thing and I am not prepared to deprive a person of his life relying on such an unsafe test. The following observations made by M.K.A. Khan in his book on the Law of Identification may be noted with benefit (Vide 2nd Edition page 16 - Chapter on Identification by Speech and Voice):'Some persons have got peculiarities of speech, such as stammering, stuttering, lisping, or speaking with a nasal tone, and such a voice can easily be detected. But there are others whose normal way of talking is either affected by some disease or is altered on account of the absence of teeth, or the use of false teeth and, in such a case there is the likelihood of mistake. In the case of persons well-known to us, identification by voice is an every day affair, but this much is also a matter of experience that people can speak in an affected tone and also change their accent to suit the occasion, and there is nothing to prevent a culprit from doing so when committing an offence at night in known quarters.
