WITNESS PROTECTION IN INDIA

Author – DISHA KAR, INDIAN INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT, ROHTAK

Best Citation – DISHA KAR, WITNESS PROTECTION IN INDIA, ILE JUDICIAL AND LEGAL REVIEW, 1 (1) of 2023, Pg. 84-91, ISBN – 978-81-961120-0-4.

ABSTRACT

In judicial proceedings, witnesses are crucial. Comparatively speaking to other topics like rape, domestic abuse, etc., witness protection is not as often discussed in India, despite the fact that it is unfair and wrong. Due to the knowledge that one witness can tip the scales in either party’s favor, witnesses are frequently threatened with emotional blackmail or offered bribes to change their testimony or remain silent. In these situations, it frequently happens that witnesses who are minors or have special needs fall victim. Extraordinary measures are needed to ensure the witness’s safety in complex cases where a witness’s cooperation is essential to the successful prosecution of a powerful criminal organization, such as anonymity and relocation of the witness under a new identity in a new, undisclosed place of residence. At the national level, there has been currently no comprehensive law or plan in place to safeguard witnesses before the advent of the “Witness Protection System, 2018” which had been developed with this eventuality in mind. The need and background for more such legislations has been analyzed here.

Keywords: Vulnerable witness, fair trial, evidence, loopholes, safeguard