HOSTILE WITNESSES



There have , recently , been a lot of court cases in which murders have been committed . Nothing that hasn't happened before one might say , but , these came into focus because , they were committed in front of witnesses , without any fear of retribution .

It is a very sad thing that people believe that you can get away with murder , and do .

Prominent among these have been :

1 . The Best Bakery case :
14 people were killed as Best Bakery was burnt down by the mob . Zaheera , a key witness ,
gave a signed statement saying that she could identify the person(s) responsible . At the
court hearing however , she turned hostile . She then asked for retrial saying that she had
been forced to lie . At the retrial however she again retracted her original statement .
2. The Nitish Katara case :
Nitish Katara was murdered by his girlfriends brothers who did not approve of their
relationship . The girl, Bharti, who at first said that her brothers were responsible ,
later turned hostile . Other people who believed that Nitish had met with foul play at
the hands of the brothers, are also one by one , turning hostile .
3. The Jessica Lal case :
The worst of the whole lot is probably the Jessica Lal case . Jessica Lal was murdered in
front of 300 people !! Of which , 32 were initially called upon as they were standing
closest to the place where she was murdered . One by one , all are now trying to back
out of their initial testimony .

There has been a lot of talk of punishing the witnesses if they turn hostile .
In fact there is going to be a new bill which will be as follows :

1. Witnesses who turn hostile in court will now go to jail for a minimum of three months and maximum of two years along with a fine
2. For the first time witnesses will have to sign statements they give to the police. A copy of the statement will be given to the witness and crucially another copy will be sent to a magistrate
3. The signed statement can then be used in court in case a witness backtracks later
4. For the first time there will be an independent public prosecutor who will not come under the CBI or the police
5. Police officers only of the rank of a sub inspector and above can investigate an offence that carries jail term of seven years or more.

In my opinion witnesses are being dealt with harshly .

First of all , it takes a great deal of courage to take a stand against a powerful person .
Secondly, none of them wants to retract their statements , they are forced to do it .

Even after knowing this , the court wants to punish the witnesses !

It is like saying , even if you haven't committed the murder , you will pay for it !!!

If they testify , the murderer's henchmen will kill them , and if they don't , the court will
punish them and they will forever lose their good name making the rest of their lives
impossible !!


I agree that the murderer shouldn't be allowed to get away , but, this is not a fair way to
go about achieving it .

The proposed bill's second and third points are logical , namely

2. For the first time witnesses will have to sign statements they give to the police. A copy of the statement will be given to the witness and crucially another copy will be sent to a magistrate
3.The signed statement can then be used in court in case a witness backtracks later .


However , the remaining points are ridiculous .

The jail term for hostile witnesses is perhaps the strangest of all . It is as if the jury has
decided that since they cannot catch the criminal they might as well punish the witnesses !!

4th point says that there will be an independent public prosecuter not connected with CBI
or the police . What on earth will this achieve ?? Instead of having to pay off police officers
or CBI officials the murderer directly or indirectly has to buy only one individual !! Can't
anyone hear the cheers emitting from the accused ??

The 5th point is of no significance whatesoever . Everyone knows that corruption occurs at the
higher levels and that police officers often aid the criminals . A sad but true fact .

The points that should be included in this bill should be such as will bring the criminal act to
justice :

1 . If a witness turns hostile , then care should be taken to investigate why this happened .
2. Right after the muder phones of all witnesses should be tapped , so that if threats are
received there will be a record of these threats .
3. Protection should be given to the witnesses , and , in case of death of a witness under
protection, cases of murder should be set up against the police responsible .
4. Last and most important , if a witness suffers in any manner such as bodily
harm or harm to any family member or death (other than natural causes )
during the trial , then this should be taken as proof positive of the murderer's
guilt .