Gujarat to get its first Vulnerable Witness Deposition Centre

The State of Gujarat will get its first Vulnerable Witness Deposition Centre (VWDC). The complex will be inaugurated in Vadodara District Court by the Acting Chief Justice of the Gujarat High Court Anant S Dave on May 5..This facility is established for the child victims and witnesses of various offences including sexual offences who need to be protected against undue influence and pressure..The centre is designed keeping in mind the interest of the children and also to ensure that the child visiting the court does not get the experience of having visited a conventional court..The Centre will have a separate and exclusive entry for the children. The children will be made to sit either in the Child Witness Waiting Room or Child Witness Deposition Room only. The Waiting Room is equipped with toys, television set etc for the children..In line with the existing laws, the children will be accompanied by their support person and there will be no direct contact between the judge, lawyers, or the accused and the children. Any question which is to be posed to the child will be routed through the support person via wireless headphones in the Deposition Room. The support person will then ask the question to the child..The child’s deposition or testimony can be viewed by the Court through video transmission and the proceedings can also be recorded. The accused will be placed in a separate cubicle and the child will not be exposed to the accused unless specifically required to be identified by the Court..The facility is developed and conceptualized based on the directions given by the Supreme Court of India in State of Maharashtra v. Bandu @ Daulat and Sampurna Behrua v. Union of India..Gujarat High Court is mooting establishment of similar complexes in all districts soon..Delhi has a robust framework for vulnerable witness protection with at least four District courts having vulnerable witness deposition complexes. Recently, Justice Gita Mittal, who spearheaded the vulnerable witness protection in Delhi, inaugurated the first Vulnerable Witness Deposition complex in Jammu & Kashmir..Read the Press Release:.Bar & Bench is available on WhatsApp. For real-time updates on stories, click here to subscribe to our WhatsApp.