Supreme Court of India

Mahender Chawla & Ors. v. Union of India & Ors.

Neutral citation

Reported as [2018] 14 S.C.R. 627

Bench A. K. Sikri and S. Abdul Nazeer JJ.

Decided 5 December 2018

INSC stands for INDIAN SUPREME COURT. A neutral citation scheme assigned by the Court itself, so a judgment can be cited without depending on a commercial law reporter. INSC is the neutral citation scheme assigned by the Supreme Court, so a judgment can be cited without depending on a commercial law reporter.

6 Supreme Court benches have cited this judgment.

What the Court ordered

We are of the view that all High Courts can adopt such guidelines if the same have not yet been adopted with such modifications as may be deemed necessary.

Judgment, page 37

From the headnote

Administration of Criminal Justice: Witness protection – Witnesses are important players in judicial system, who help the judges in arriving at correct fact ual findings – Notwithstanding the same, the conditions of witnes ses in Indian legal system is pathetic – They are threatened at var ious stages – Due to lack of witness protection programme and the treatm ent that is meted out to the witness, there is a reluctance in comin g forward and making statement during investigation and/or testifying in courts – One of the main reasons for witnesses to turn hostile is that they are not accorded

Authorities it was built on

2002 Ram Govind Upadhyay v. Sudarshan Singh and Ors. cited by 53
2007 Tax Recovery Officer, Central Range-1 v. Custodian Appointed Under the Special Court (trial of Offences Relating to Transaction in Securities) Act, 1992 cited by 41
1966 Naresh Shridhar Mirajkar and Ors. v. State of Maharashtra and Anr. cited by 38
2004 Zahira Habibulla H Sheikh and Anr. v. State of Gujarat and Ors. cited by 36
2004 Sakshi v. Union of India cited by 18
2001 State of U.P. v. Shambhu Nath Singh and Ors. cited by 6
2016 Ramesh and Others v. State of Haryana cited by 4
1994 Delhi Domestic Working Women's Forum v. Union of India and Ors. cited by 4

Where later benches applied it

2022 Smruti Tukaram Badade v. State of Maharashtra & Anr relied on
2025 Phireram v. State of Uttar Pradesh & Anr. referred to
2025 Mohammed Asarudeen v. Union of India & Ors referred to
2021 Hari & Anr. v. The State of Uttar Pradesh referred to
2023 Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay v. Union of India & Anr. mentioned
2019 Shri P. Chidambaram v. Central Bureau of Investigation mentioned

Of those, 1 relied on · 3 referred to · 2 mentioned

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