A Legal Aspect of Witness Protection in India
Author : Rajib Ali, Student of Faculty of Law, University of Delhi, Delhi.
Best Citation – Rajib Ali, A Legal Aspect of Witness Protection in India, INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF CRIMINAL JURISPRUDENCE, 1 (1) of 2023, Pg. 15-20, ISBN (P) – 978-81-960702-2-9.
ABSTRACT
Anyone with knowledge or documentation of any crime can be considered a witness. The courts capacity to punish the guilty party and provide justice to the victim can be used to assess the effectiveness of criminal justice administration. Courts rely on the evidence presented by the parties in oral or written form for determining guilt. By using testimonies from witnesses, the proof is presented. For the courts to prove the guilt of the accused, witnesses are a crucial source of information. Courts are better able to make wise decisions thanks to witness testimonies. The witness is therefore crucial.Because of this, Whittaker Chambers stated, “In search of truth, he plays that sacred role of the sun, which eliminates the darkness of ignorance and illuminates the face of justice, encircled by devils of humanity and compassion.”[1] Day by day, the court system’s management of witnesses is becoming terrible. In the Lakhimpur Kheri case, only 23 eyewitnesses were found out of hundreds of gatherers, which surprised the Indian Supreme Court recently. The Malimath Committee stated in its report 2003 that, “By giving evidence relating to the commission of an offence, he performs a sacred duty of assisting the court to discover the truth.”[2] Why would anyone volunteer to carry out such a sacred obligation if they knew that doing so would endanger their lives, families, reputations, and property. Because of all these incidents, witnesses are afraid to testify in court and frequently become hostile as a result.The challenges that the witness encountered during the trial were noted by the Law Commission of India in its different reports and by the Supreme Court of India in its several rulings, who both advocated the adoption of a thorough policy on witness protection. I will go through the necessity of witness protection, as well as the laws and programmes in India that are relevant to it, in this research article.
Keywords: Witness, Supreme Court, Criminal justice system, Law Commission of India, Evidence.
[1] SCC Online, https://www.scconline.com/blog/post/2018/12/07/sc-approves-witness-protection-scheme-2018-directs-setting-up-of-vulnerable-witness-deposition-complexes-in-all-district-courts/ (last visited Feb. 9, 2023)
[2] Witness Protection scheme, 2018, https://www.mha.gov.in/sites/default/files/2022-08/Documents_PolNGuide_finalWPS_08072019%5B1%5D.pdf (last visited Feb. 9, 2023)