Witness protection in India: how to apply if threatened
Threatened as a witness? How the Witness Protection Scheme 2018 and Sec 398 BNSS work, who to apply to, the five-day timelines, and what protection you can get.
In short
- Threatening a witness to make them give false evidence is a crime punishable with up to seven years (Sec 232 BNS). Report every threat in writing.
- The Witness Protection Scheme, 2018, approved by the Supreme Court in Mahender Chawla (2018), applies across India, and Sec 398 BNSS requires every State to notify its own scheme.
- Apply to the Competent Authority in your district, headed by the District and Sessions Judge, preferably through the Public Prosecutor. Interim protection can be ordered the same day in urgent cases.
- Protection ranges from police escort and a changed phone number to in-camera evidence, identity concealment and relocation, paid from a Witness Protection Fund.
- In immediate danger call 112. Free legal help: 15100.
Many criminal cases rest on what ordinary people saw or heard. A shopkeeper who saw an attack, a neighbour who heard a quarrel, or an employee who noticed a fraud may be the only link between a crime and the truth. When such people are threatened, bribed or attacked, cases collapse and the guilty walk free. Witness protection exists so that telling the truth in court does not cost you your safety.
Why witnesses "turn hostile"
A witness is called hostile when they go back in court on what they told the police. Sometimes the first statement was wrong. Very often the reason is fear: long trials give the accused and their supporters years to pressure a witness who lives in the same street. Courts have said repeatedly that a fair trial is impossible if witnesses cannot speak freely.
What the law says
For decades India had no general law on witness protection. In Mahender Chawla v. Union of India (2018), the Supreme Court approved the Witness Protection Scheme, 2018 drafted by the Union government and directed all States and Union Territories to enforce it until Parliament or the States made their own law. The Court declared that the scheme would be the law under Art 141 and Art 142.
The BNSS has now given this a statutory base. Sec 398 BNSS says every State Government shall prepare and notify a Witness Protection Scheme for the State. Several States have notified schemes modelled on the 2018 scheme; where a State has not, the 2018 scheme continues to apply. Separately, Sec 232 BNS (earlier Sec 195A IPC) punishes threatening any person with injury to their person, reputation or property to make them give false evidence, with up to seven years' imprisonment, and the same sentence as the innocent convict if the false evidence leads to a conviction with death or more than seven years.
How the 2018 scheme works
- Three threat categories. Category A: the threat extends to the life of the witness or family. Category B: to their safety, reputation or property. Category C: moderate threats such as harassment or intimidation.
- Who decides. A Competent Authority in each district: a Standing Committee chaired by the District and Sessions Judge, with the district head of police as member and the head of prosecution as member secretary.
- Who can apply. The witness, a family member, their lawyer, or the investigating officer, SHO or jail superintendent, in the district where the offence was committed. The application is preferably routed through the Public Prosecutor, with supporting documents.
- Timelines. The authority calls for a Threat Analysis Report from the district police, due within five working days. It must decide the application within five working days of receiving the report, after hearing the witness in camera (in private). In urgent cases it can order interim protection while the application is pending.
- Cost. Expenses come from a State Witness Protection Fund, not from the witness.
What protection can include
- Ensuring the witness and the accused do not come face to face during investigation or trial
- Monitoring of calls and mail, and an unlisted or changed phone number
- Security devices such as CCTV, alarms and fencing at the witness's home
- Close protection, regular patrolling, and police escort with State-paid transport to and from court
- Concealing identity in court records (a changed name or a letter instead of a name), in-camera trial, and evidence by video link with voice or face distortion in a vulnerable witness court room
- Expeditious day-to-day recording of the witness's evidence, and a support person during statements
- Temporary relocation, and in rare cases a change of identity, with periodic financial aid
Each protection order lasts up to three months at a time and is reviewed quarterly by the Competent Authority, which can extend, change or end it. Proceedings are confidential. A witness who obtained protection on a false complaint can be made to repay the expenses.
Step by step: if you are threatened
- In immediate danger, call 112. Move to a relative's house if you can.
- Record the threat. Write down who, when, where and what was said. Save screenshots, voice notes and call logs; do not delete anything.
- Complain to the police in writing. Give a written complaint at the police station citing Sec 232 BNS, get a receipt or a copy of the FIR. Send a copy to the Superintendent of Police.
- Tell the Public Prosecutor and the trial court. The court can order immediate steps such as video evidence, identity protection or recording your evidence out of turn.
- File the witness protection application. Ask the Public Prosecutor or the District Legal Services Authority (DLSA) to prepare it for the Competent Authority (District and Sessions Judge). Attach your complaint, FIR copy and evidence of threats, and ask for interim protection.
- Keep your lawyer informed of any new threat. The order can be strengthened on review.
Sunita, a tailor in Patna, saw her neighbour's son stab a man outside her shop and gave a statement to the police. Three months later the accused's relatives start standing outside her shop and send a message: "Forget what you saw." She photographs them, saves the message, and files a written complaint at the police station under Sec 232 BNS. Her DLSA lawyer files a witness protection application through the Public Prosecutor. The Sessions Judge orders interim police patrolling the same day, calls for a threat analysis report, and within two weeks orders that her evidence be recorded early by video link, with escort to court.
Keep these ready
- Copy of the FIR or complaint in the main case, and the case number
- Your written threat complaint and its receipt or FIR number
- Screenshots, call logs, voice notes and photographs of the threats, with dates
- Names and numbers of anyone who witnessed the threats
- Your ID and address proof, and the Public Prosecutor's contact details
Do not negotiate privately with the accused's family or accept money to "forget". That can expose you to a charge of giving false evidence, and once you change your story the protection of the law weakens. Report the approach instead; an attempt to buy your silence is itself evidence of tampering.
Where to go
- 112 in an emergency; local police station for a written complaint under Sec 232 BNS; Superintendent of Police if ignored
- Public Prosecutor attached to the trial court, to route the protection application
- Competent Authority: the District and Sessions Judge's office in the district court complex
- District Legal Services Authority or NALSA helpline 15100, for a free lawyer to draft the application; 181 for women; 1098 for a child witness
- High Court under Art 226 if the authority or police fail to act
Common questions
Who can apply for witness protection and where?
The witness, a family member, their lawyer, or the investigating officer, SHO or jail superintendent can apply to the Competent Authority of the district where the offence was committed, headed by the District and Sessions Judge. The application is usually routed through the Public Prosecutor; the District Legal Services Authority can help draft it free of charge.
How quickly is a witness protection application decided?
Under the 2018 scheme the police must give a Threat Analysis Report within five working days, and the authority must decide within five working days of receiving it. In urgent cases the authority can pass an interim protection order at once, before the report comes in.
Is threatening a witness a crime by itself?
Yes. Sec 232 BNS punishes threatening any person with injury to their body, reputation or property to make them give false evidence with up to seven years' imprisonment, in addition to any other offence such as criminal intimidation or assault. File a written complaint and keep the receipt.
Can my identity be hidden from the accused?
Yes, in appropriate cases. The Competent Authority or the trial court can order that your name and address be concealed in records, that you be referred to by a code, that evidence be given in camera or by video link with voice and face distortion, and that the accused not come face to face with you. Complete anonymity is rare because the accused has a right to cross-examine.
Does witness protection apply in every State?
Yes. The Supreme Court directed all States and Union Territories to implement the 2018 scheme in Mahender Chawla (2018), and Sec 398 BNSS requires every State to notify its own scheme. Several States have done so; where a State scheme exists, apply under it. The procedure is broadly the same.
This article is general information for awareness, not legal advice. For your situation, consult an advocate or call free legal aid at 15100.
