The Bombay High Court on Tuesday directed the Maharashtra government to finalise the new Maharashtra Witness Protection Act within six months and suggested bringing whistle-blowers and activists under the ambit of the proposed legislation.
The Bombay High Court on Tuesday directed the Maharashtra government to finalise the new Maharashtra Witness Protection Act within six months and suggested bringing whistle-blowers and activists under the ambit of the proposed legislation.
Last week, the government had informed the HC that instead of a policy it was coming up with new law to ensure safety of witnesses in sensitive cases. A draft of the proposed law was also submitted to the court.
The state's response came during the hearing of suo moto petition, initiated by the court itself after the murder of activist Satish Shetty, an RTI activist from Pune, in January 2010.
The government informed the HC that a committee had already been formed to work on the issue and a new law – Maharashtra Witness Protection Act – would be enacted soon.
Advocate Dinyar Madon, who was appointed as amicus curiae (friend of the court), however, pointed out that the new law would not provide protection to whistleblowers and activists. The Act may be formed to give protection cover only to witnesses in sensitive cases, he said.
Convinced, a division bench of Justices A S Oka and A K Menon suggested inclusion of whistleblowers and activists in the new law to the government. The court directed the state to enact the new law within six months.
In October 2014, the HC had asked the government to frame a fresh policy on the protection to people exposing scams and various crimes and witnesses in sensitive cases.
While ordering the Maharashtra government to frame a fresh policy, the HC had also directed it to provide immediate protection to whistle-blowers and witnesses even at the stage of investigation, on a written or an oral request made by them to the investigating officer.
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