MADURAI; The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court recently said the police and courts should build confidence among the public that they will not be harassed if they stand as a witness in a criminal case through proper witness protection. A Bench comprising Justices J Nisha Banu and N Anand Venkatesh observed so while acquitting three persons in a 2013 double murder case in Thoothukudi due to lack of independent witnesses.
Every citizen must realise that such a grave situation, in which a crime was unable to be proved since the onlookers were not ready to stand as a witness, can arise in their own family. "Hence, the hesitation to stand as an independent witness must be shed and a citizen must take more responsibility to uphold the rule of law. The criminal justice system depends upon fair trial and evidence from the independent witnesses. In the absence of the same, the criminal justice system will collapse and it will only lead to anarchy," the judges said, pointing out how the Supreme Court and High Courts have lamented over the issue in several judgments.
According to the prosecution, the three accused- Senthilkumar, Shenbagaraj, Gurusamy- were running a pork shop. They had murdered the deceased- Murugan and Balamurugan- as the latter had complained against them before the local body authorities and the police regarding pollution. A case was registered by Kovilpatti East Police and the trio was sentenced to life imprisonment in 2019, challenging which they filed the appeal.
But the bench found all key witnesses in the case were closely related to the deceased and the statements of the sons of the deceased, who were the eye-witnesses, were also doubtful. It criticised the police for failing to produce any independent witnesses in the case even though the murder took place in a crowded residential area. "We find that the prosecution always tries to safely bring in related witnesses to ensure that they support their case. Witnesses related to the accused replace independent witnesses, who actually had seen the crime, in many cases" the judges observed.