LAHORE: The Punjab home department has finally constituted the witness protection board which is considered vital to the enforcement of the Punjab Witness Protection Act 2018 enacted by the previous Shahbaz Sharif government for the first time in the country for ensuring convictions in terrorism or other cases of heinous crime.

Trials of all criminal cases, including those relating to the acts of terrorism, are mainly based on witnesses statements. But, this has led to phony witnesses, many are readily available as “professionals” to give a twist to a case. The genuine witnesses are intimidated or bribed and in some cases eliminated, as there is no arrangement by the state to protect them or their identity. As a result, the culprits are bailed out, exonerated of the charges or get less punishment than they deserve, while the innocent are punished.

Recording the witness statement in terrorism cases is a nightmare as doing this would mean offending the terror network. There are cases in which the serving or retired officials of the law enforcement agencies avoided recording their witness statement during the trial of a terrorism case.

Chief Minister Usman Buzdar had approved the constitution of the board last month. Officials on Sunday said the home department had now notified it in view of the formal approval by the provincial cabinet early this month.

The second step towards fully enforcing the Witness Protection Act is the framing of its rules which, officials said, were being “speedily” finalised by the provincial home and prosecution departments and some experts.

The witness protection board has been constituted under the additional chief secretary or the secretary of the home department. Its members include secretaries of the finance and prosecution departments, prosecutor general, police’s counter terrorism department (CTD) additional IG, and additional IGs of the special branch and investigations.

The board’s functions include framing of policy guidelines, have them approved by the government, oversee their implementation and spearhead and supervise the performance of the two units to be formed under the law. One unit is for offences of terrorism, and the other for other serious offences. Their heads would be appointed on the recommendation of the board.

Significant aspects of the act include allowing a victim or a witness or any other person connected with criminal proceedings, and those related to them, to apply for protection. In response, the CTD, the public prosecutor or the court, trying a suspect for offence of terrorism or for some other of serious nature, may direct the unit concerned to assess the risk to any such person concerned with the criminal proceedings.

The non-court protection can be offered by the unit itself or on the direction of the government. It includes close protection service, lodging witnesses in a safe house, their temporary or permanent relocation at a safe place, change of identity, concealment of their identity and financial assistance.

Such protection is free of cost and all departments, agencies or offices are required to cooperate with the unit for the purpose.

The court can allow protection to a witness if he or she is fearful, under stress, is intimidated or dreads any harm to him/her, his/her family or property if he/she records evidence, is disabled, under 16 years of age, and the victim of a sexual offence.

The court, while ordering protection, may also consider personal circumstances of the witness, including his or her opinion and belief, behaviour of the accused, his family or associates or any other person towards him/her, the nature and circumstances of the offence and the report of the unit with regard to the gravity of the threat to the witness.

The unit or the court can also take special measures for the protection of a witness, including ensuring that he/she is not seen while coming to the court, recording evidence in the court or leaving it, and recording of the evidence through video link.

The government can also order jail trial if a normal court house is not found safe for it.

Courts can conduct in-camera proceedings of specific cases to ensure protection of the witnesses. But this will not be done if the court decides that the cross-examination by the accused in person is likely to affect the involuntariness or quality of the evidence.

The law empowers courts to disallow a question to the victim of a sexual offence relating to any sexual behaviour of the victim on any previous occasion with the accused or any other person, unless such a question is a relevant fact in the case.

It also authorises the courts to prohibit reporting (disclosing) of the identity of a person connected with an offence of terrorism or a sexual nature or the identity of the members of his family in print, electronic or other media if he or she is under 18 years of age, and if the quality of the evidence of the person concerned will be affected by the reporting.

The court, on its own or through an application, can order the preservation of the anonymity of the witness or of any persons relating to the evidence of the witness. But this will be done only if the court is satisfied that under no circumstances the order will prevent the accused from receiving a fair trial.

The related measures include withholding names, addresses and identification details, allowing pseudonyms, disallowing during the trial questions that may reveal the identity of the witness.

Reporting in the media the identity of such persons or violating their anonymity despite court orders is an offence carrying up to three-year but not less than 30-day imprisonment with up to Rs100,000 fine.

Published in Dawn, April 29th, 2019

Opinion

Editorial

‘Source of terror’
Updated 29 Mar, 2024

‘Source of terror’

It is clear that going after militant groups inside Afghanistan unilaterally presents its own set of difficulties.
Chipping in
29 Mar, 2024

Chipping in

FEDERAL infrastructure development schemes are located in the provinces. Most such projects — for instance,...
Toxic emitters
29 Mar, 2024

Toxic emitters

IT is concerning to note that dozens of industries have been violating environmental laws in and around Islamabad....
Judiciary’s SOS
Updated 28 Mar, 2024

Judiciary’s SOS

The ball is now in CJP Isa’s court, and he will feel pressure to take action.
Data protection
28 Mar, 2024

Data protection

WHAT do we want? Data protection laws. When do we want them? Immediately. Without delay, if we are to prevent ...
Selling humans
28 Mar, 2024

Selling humans

HUMAN traders feed off economic distress; they peddle promises of a better life to the impoverished who, mired in...