MEASURES FOR PREVENTING WITNESSES TURNING HOSTILE
The
Government is examining the 178th Report of the Law
Commission of India to prevent witnesses turning hostile in criminal
cases. This is being done in consultation with the States as the
Criminal Law and Criminal Procedure are in the Concurrent List
of the Seventh Schedule to the Constitution of India.
The Law Commission
has recommended insertion of Section 164-A after Section 164 in
the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973. The extract of the recommendations
is : "164A (1) Any police officer making an investigation
into any offence punishable with imprisonment for a period of
ten years or more (with or without fine) including an offence
which is punishable with death, shall in the course of such investigation,
forward all persons whose evidence is essential for the just decision
of the case, to the nearest Magistrate for recording their statements.
(2) The Magistrate
shall record the statements of such persons forwarded to him under
sub-section 10 on oath and shall keep such statements with him
awaiting further police report under Section 173.
(3) Copies of such
statements shall be furnished to the investigating officer.
(4) If the Magistrate
recording the statement is not empowered to take cognizance of
such offence, he shall send the statements so recorded to the
magistrate empowered to take cognizance of the case.
(5) The statement
of any person duly recorded as a witness under sub-section (1)
may, if such witness is produced and examined, in the discretion
of the court and subject to the provisions of the Indian Evidence
Act, 1872, be treated as evidence".
Section 162 of the
Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 provides that no statement made
by any person to a police officer in the course of an investigation
shall, if reduced to writing, be signed by the person making it.
While no time frame
could be fixed for effecting this amendment, the Government will
await the report of Justice V.S. Malimath Committee on Criminal
Laws Reforms before taking a final view. Meanwhile, the views
of the States are awaited.
