'Courts should come forward to protect witnesses'

"The witness is backbone of the criminal justice system and if the backbone is broken, the whole criminal justice system would crumble," Additional Sessions Judge Gurdeep Singh remarked.

"If the courts do not come forward to rescue the witnesses and use power to give sentence to the fullest, the witness would not have any sense of security and the criminal will have a field day," he said.

The ASJ made the observation while sentencing 27-year-old Kuldeep to ten-year jail and imposing a fine of Rs 50,000 for attempting to murder one Sachin Bhardwaj, who was a witness against him in a robbery case.

The accused had tried to pressurise Bhardwaj not to depose against him and finally won him over.

The prosecution case was Kuldeep and his accomplice, all residents of northwest Delhi, beat up Sachin, his brother Sunil and his friends and looted them on September 3, 2009.

A case of robbery was then registered against them, the prosecution said.

On September 6, 2009, Sachin was returning from work when Kuldeep intercepted him in a car and asked him not to depose against him in the robbery case. When Sachin did not accede to his request, Kuldeep whipped out a revolver and shot at Sachin, who was hit in his leg, the prosecution said.

Sachin's brother Sunil rushed him to the hospital and informed the police that he had seen Kuldeep shoot at Sunil. Subsequently, police lodged a case of attempt to murder under the IPC and also charged him under the Arms Act. (More)