Indian Express: Chandigarh: Monday,
September 12, 2016.
MANY THINGS
have improved in judicial circles in the past nine years, the district courts
complex has shifted from Sector 17 to Sector 43, pendency of cases has been
reduced from 1 lakh cases in 2007 to 30,000 cases in 2016. However, one thing
that maintains status quo is the witnesses who continue to turn hostile in
criminal trials with judicial officers barely initiating perjury proceedings
against such witness, one of the only alternatives available as a deterrent to
prevent u-turns by the witnesses/complainants.
As per the
data procured under the Right to Information (RTI) Act from January 2007 to May
2016 the district courts have initiated perjury proceedings in barely 13 cases
either against the complainants or witnesses who turned hostile. Of the 13
perjury proceedings initiated in last nine years, four were initiated by the
CBI special court in corruption cases wherein the complainant or witness had
turned hostile.
In one of the
cases registered by CBI against a UT police officer, the then Deputy
Superintendent of Police J S Cheema (now retired) was facing graft charges. He
was acquitted by the then CBI’s Special Judge Jagdeep Jain on October 31, 2007.
Citing technical errors on the part of the CBI’s investigating officer who laid
the trap, the judge acquitted Cheema. The court then initiated perjury proceedings
against complainant Ajay Kumar and witness KBS Mann. The remaining three
perjury proceedings by the CBI Special Court were initiated in 2008, 2010 and
2011 respectively in separate cases.
The special
court for crime against women has initiated perjury proceedings in nine cases
in last two years. Most of the cases in which the witness has turned hostile
are pertaining to the offence of rape.
Speaking on
the perjury proceedings, a retired judge of the Punjab and Haryana High Court,
Justice R S Randhawa said, “In one such case, wherein a retired Senior
Superintendent of Police, Gurcharan Singh Pherurai, was acquitted in a fake
currency case in 2011 as all witnesses had turned hostile. I took a suo motu
notice and said if currency was fake then the cop has been wrongly framed.
After I took the suo motu an inquiry was marked and a division bench was
instituted and a re-trial was ordered in the said case.”
SSP Sukhchain
Singh Gill asserted, “The conviction rate in Chandigarh is not as low as other
cities. However, there are witnesses who turn hostile. Initiating perjury
proceedings is the prerogative of the court but we as an investigating agency
need to ensure that cases are investigated properly.”
Gill added,
“A lot of effort goes into investigating a case. The police spend lot of time
and money. To solve a case it might take two days to two months or even more.
Then judiciary invests a lot of time. In the end if the witness turns hostile,
the entire purpose of investigation stands defeated.”
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