Protecting the Witness

The importance of protecting people who put themselves at risk by assisting law enforcement agencies as witnesses is widely recognised worldwide. Evidence provided by victims of crime, innocent bystanders to a crime and people who have information about a criminal activity are crucial to the conviction of a criminal. In a telephone interview with the Daily Star, Mahfuzur Rahman,  Assistant Inspector General  (Confidential), Police Headquarters  talks to Amitava Kar about the importance of a well-established Witness Protection Prgramme. 

The Daily Star: Do we have a witness protection programme?

Mahfuzur Rahman: I think it is under progress. In February 2015 at the Police Staff College, we had a training programme organised by the US Embassy based on  the Rabat Memorandum on Good Practices for Effective Counterterrorism Practice in the Criminal Justice Sector. One of the good practices discussed in Rabat, Morocco was witness protection. But it was only for terrorism related cases. The training programme organised at the Police Staff College was attended by prosecutors, members of the police  force and lawyers from Bangladesh and several other countries. 

DS: What was the outcome of the training programme?

MR: At the training sessions good practices from different countries were highlighted. We had participants from Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, the United States and Bangladesh. We found out that many countries in the Indian Sub-continent such as Nepal, Pakistan and Maldives do not have a witness protection programme.  There were no participants from India.

DS: Was there any follow-up on the training programme?

MR: There will be another conference in Nepal from the 25th of this month where representatives from the Police, Judiciary and Prosecution will attend.

DS: What are the main challenges we face to establish  a Witness Protection Programme?

MR: The main challenge is that  it involves costs.  Even in the US they do not protect all witnesses. The police have to have adequate resources to protect witnesses who are sometimes threatened  or intimidated by ciminals. It is difficult to protect all witnesses. But we have laws. If a witness feels threatened, he or she has every right to lodge a complaint at a police station. They can file a General Diary and we will take proper actions. One can get some redress under the existing laws. But the witness's right to be protected must be ensured by law. It will  make the job of the police easier. Then we will be able to allocate more resources, raise manpower and so on. We face a serious manpower problem. We have a force of about 158,000. Our population is 160 million meaning that  we have one police person for every 1300 people. Nepal has a police strength of 1 for every 700 people. The number of police persons must be increased, more amenities should be given to them and we should invest more on capacity building.

DS: What are your recommendations?

MR: As far as I know, there are several inter-ministrial meetings. The Ministry of Law takes the initiative  and gives their opinion. The Ministry of Home Affairs is also involved. The Police is under the Minstry of Home Affairs so we also have participation. Then it is placed in the cabinet. Then it goes to the standing committee. Ultimately it goes to the parliament.