Protect witnesses:SC

Concerned over the manner in which witnesses turn hostile in several cases, the Supreme Court has sought a witness protection mechanism.

The court was hearing a case in which a college girl was crushed to death by a jeep in December 1998 on a college campus in Chhattisgarh. The vehicle, which carried a banner, ‘Vote for Congress’, was carrying a bunch of youngsters.

The SC was livid over the manner in which the victim’s classmates, who witnessed the crime, turned hostile. “The plight of the girls who were under pressure depicts the need for witness protection if criminal justice administration has to be a reality,” a bench of justices Arijit Pasayat (now retired) and Asok Kumar Ganguly observed. The judges dismissed the appeal of accused Samar Vijay Singh who had challenged his conviction under Section 302 (murder) for causing Preeti’s death on December 3, 1998 on the Government Girls College Campus, Ambikarpur, Chhattisgarh.

Witnesses in the case were all girl students and classmates who had noted down the number of the jeep. The prosecution said Vijay Singh and three other youngsters drove the jeep recklessly on the campus and crushed Preeti’s college bag and her lunch box. Preeti stopped the vehicle on their return and asked them to compensate for the loss. Infuriated, Singh, reversed the vehicle and then came charging towards Preeti and  crushed her to death.

The sessions court sentenced Vijay Singh, Javed Alam, Raj Kumar and Ganesh to life imprisonment. The Chhattisgarh high court dismissed their appeal.