LAHORE - A daring murder accused, who threatened the witnesses and complainants within the court premises, tried to escape from custody last week but was captured by the cops shortly. He was detained along with his accomplices.
Apparently, it looked like an ordinary act of fight but it was not so. It was in fact a fight with the complainant party and the witnesses who could testify against him.
Normally, such cases are not reported by the media because journalists don’t give them the importance they deserve. It is a well thought-out strategy to block justice.
Since witnesses are not provided security, they prefer to stay away from courts - and consequently their accounts go unrecorded. And when witnesses' version is not made part of the record, the decisions delivered in such cases may be anything but fair.
The above-mentioned episode is not the only of its kind. A similar situation was seen during the proceedings of the tribunal on the Model Town tragedy, in which about a dozen people had been killed. Most of the witnesses in this case were police officers, not the ordinary citizens.
During the tribunal’s proceedings, many of the witnesses excused themselves and did not appear before the judge to testify against responsible for brutal incident, fearing serious security threats.
However, when this reality came into the knowledge of the tribunal, it took due notice. The tribunal judge observed that the witnesses would be provided sufficient protection. Still they refused to appear and testify against the accused.
Surprisingly, in Gullu Butt case – which is the part of the same case, a total 12 witnesses appeared in the Anti-Terrorism Court. Majority of them were police constables who had recorded their statements against Gullu Butt and he was finally convicted in the case.
In September last year, the Sindh government had boasted to be the first province to have drafted the ‘extraordinary’ law. According to its objectives, the law was drafted in view of the increasing activities of terrorism as the witnesses refused to record statements against the accused out of fear for their lives.
The law allowed witnesses to conceal their identity by wearing a mask, change their voice or appearance and also allowed them to be segregated during the investigation or trial.
“If the witness cannot come to court due to security reasons, the law would allow them to testify via video conferencing,” the act stated.
As per the said law, witnesses can be relocated in view of threats to their lives and the government would provide accommodation and reasonable financial assistance.
The legal heirs of the witness will be compensated and their children provided free education if the witness were to be killed during the protection period, said the law.
Under this law, the Crime Investigation Department’s AIG will act as the chief witness protection officer. The AIG will submit an annual report to the government regarding the performance and effectiveness of the programme.
The cases in which a witness may be placed under protection include treason, sedition, murder, rape and public violence, any offense relating to extortion, fraud, forgery, theft (involving amount of more than Rs5 million), robbery (when there are aggravating circumstances), kidnapping, any offence relating to contraband drugs and drugs trafficking, Indecent assault on a child under the age of 16 years.
Beside this act, Protection of Pakistan Act, 2014 has also provided a provision for the protection of witnesses but it is a simple provision demanding security of judges, prosecutors and witnesses. In spite of both acts, the government is not taking any practical step for the safety and protection of the witnesses.
The legal experts believe that laws exist but the will is needed to enforce them in letter and spirit, otherwise the trend of threatening and killing the witnesses will not come to an end.