In a significant move to ensure that witnesses involved in important criminals cases, including terrorism, are protected, five committees have been formed. These are at districts level, police commissionerates level, Anti-Terrorism Squad level, Crime Investigation Department level and the Director General of Police office level.
The committees were formed according to a recent government resolution issued by the state home department. After a witness makes an application for protection, a committee is expected to take a decision in 15 days and provide protection to the applicant for free, the GR states.
The department had recently given approval for setting up five committees within the state police force to look into the issue of witness protection.
About the functioning of these committees, the GR states that police officers, social workers, lawyers and NGO officials and witnesses themselves can make application to the committees to seek protection.
"An application must be made to the department that is investigating the case in which the witness has received a threat to his/her life and requires protection. Once that's been done, the committee will take a decision in 15 days," the GR states.
It further states that after receiving the application, the committee concerned will take a decision on whether the witness should be provided immediate protection and, if yes, then how will it be done. "The applicant can make an application to seek protection from the DGP office's committee if his/her application has been rejected by any other committee," the GR reads.
The DGP office's committee, every three months, will take a stock of the cases in which the applicant had sought and received protection and, if the committee is of the view that there is no need to provide protection to the witness, then it will be withdrawn. "The committees, while approving protection, will also have to define the protection period. They will also look into the past cases in which the witnesses had demanded protection," a home department official said.
Once given, if the witness turns hostile, the committee will have the right to withdraw his/her protection.
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