Strengthening Criminal Justice System Need for Witness Protection in India

Abstract

Criminal Justice System protects certain basic rights and liberties of the peopleguaranteed under the Constitution by enforcing law and punishing the offender. Every Criminal Justice System of world works on a set principle ofCriminal Law and follows either Adversarial System or Inquisitorial System. Thesystem followed in India for dispensation of criminal justice is the adversarial system of common law inherited from the British Colonial Rulers.AdversarialSystem clearlyfocuses on the role of witness in criminal cases. Witness is the foundation on which the building of justice and equity rests. He is therefore, inevitable and plays an important role on which the fate of the case depends. He is the backbone of the trial, whether it is civil or criminal. No prosecution case can be built up without the evidence of witnesses. Witness is indispensable aid in the criminal justice system and for smooth running of criminal justice system it is required that witnesses come forward and depose their testimony in free and fair atmosphere. According to Bentham, Witnesses are eyes and ears of justice. Therefore, if the witnesses themselves are incapacitated from acting as eyes and ear of justice; the trial will get putrefied and paralyzed. So, in any jurisdiction witness requires a special treatment.One can aptly quote Justice Gita Mittal and Justice J.R. Mirdha of the High Court of Delhi in the case of Mrs.Neelam Katara v. Union of India and Others that The edifice of administration of justice is based upon witnesses coming forward anddeposing without fear or favour, without intimidation or allurements in Court of law. If witnesses are deposing under fear or intimidation or for favour or allurement, the foundation of administration of justice not only gets weakened, but it may even get obliterated. newline