V
V.Balasubramani
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Will the Government at the Centre and the State come forward to enact stringent Witness Protection Act to ensure that the culprits are punished and they don't get off.
Protect the witness
The Swathi murder case in Chennai must trigger a move to enact strong witness protection laws and schemes.
Excerpts:
Why are the public so passive or disinclined to intervene when a serious crime occurs? The reasons for non-intervention range from fear of reprisals by the assailants and their families, to harassment and intimidation by the police starting with the investigation.Furthermore, the process of giving witness statements and having to depose in the court and be subjected to cross-examination by ruthless defence advocate scan be a brutal and bruising experience for a witness.
In the Swathi murder, police have secured just one witness, a shopkeeper at the railway station. Media reports indicate that the investigators held a test identification parade (TIP) in the prison premises. This runs contrary to the Supreme Court directions in the Shaji vs Kerala case, where such identification parades have been disregarded in cases with high media exposure. Evidence from the TIP is most likely to be challenged in court.
Being a witness in the police investigation and judicial process in India, even in sensational cases, requires a person to have a strong sense of civic duty as well as stamina to with stand the consequent social and economic impact. For instance, a witness can’t recover the loss of income from attending court proceedings, which often get adjourned without notice or explanation. There is also stigma attached to being associated with criminal cases in any capacity. In some cases, public witnesses are subject to coercion or inducements to help the accused. It is, thus,incumbent upon the government to create an environment which will allow bystanders to help victims of crime and depose freely in courts.
One way to address this problem is to provide significant legal protection to witnesses, so that they are treated with respect and compassion during the investigation as well as the trial. In the UK, witnesses who are deemed “intimidated” due to fear or distressed about testifying in court get special protection during the police investigation and the trial process. The “special measures” include automatic right of witness“anonymity” in murder cases involving firearms and knife, which means any witness who comes forward can be confident of giving evidence knowing that the accused and his family cannot trace him or her, thereby reducing the scope for intimidation and harassment of the witness. During the trial, the court too can offer a wide variety of “special measures” so that an intimidated witness can give evidence behind a screen, by way of video-link or “in camera” so that she is protected from public view and the accused. Further, the court could also impose restriction on media reporting, so that the name of the witnesses is protected. In extreme and serious cases, where the witness is judged to be at the risk of serious harm, the police has a special department known as the “UKProtected Persons Service” for the safety and well-being of a witness and her family.
Read moreat: http://indianexpress.com/article/op...-employee-hacked-to-death-in-chennai-2920250/
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