Witness Protection Scheme

The recent killing of Umesh Pal, the key witness in the 2005 murder of the then newly-elected Bahujan Samaj Party MLA Raju Pal, has brought into focus the sorry state of the witness protection system in India.

Earlier, the SC bench directed the Uttar Pradesh government to provide protection to witnesses under the Witness Protection Scheme. The bench also said that the statements of other witnesses should be recorded before the judicial magistrate under section 164 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) and expedite the examination of digital evidence by experts.