Cops hauled up for not providing witness protection

AHMEDABAD: A city sessions court on Thursday pulled up Ellisbridge Police for ignoring court orders to provide protection to a court witness, who was facing constant threats.
In a rebuke to the cops, additional sessions judge A I Shaikh said to Ellisbridge cops, “When police does not follow court orders, how can they be expected to pay attention to common people's problems?“ With this, the court again ordered police to provide protection to the witness.
In this case, one Surendra Sharma was murdered in February 2012 and Kamlesh Patel was the only eye witness to the crime. He is also the complainant. When the trial against the accused person ­ Man Singh ­ started, Patel did not turn up for deposition despite repeated reminders. When he dud turn up in co urt on Wednesday , the court asked him the reason for his absence. Patel told the court that one Akshay Seja, working as mediator in this case, was threatening him. Following the constant threats, he had shifted from Bapunagar, where he used to live. When he came to know about the summons, he immediately came to the court.
On hearing the witness, the judge asked police to take steps against the accused person and provide protection to the witness with immediate effect.
When Patel came to the courtroom on Thursday for further examination, the public prosecutor drew court's attention that he was not given police protection despite the court order. This led the court to reprimand the cops and reiterate its order.