Mayabunder: HC sets up Vulnerable Witness Deposition Centre at dist court

Kolkata: The Calcutta High Court has set up a Vulnerable Witness Deposition Centre (VWDC) at the district court in Mayabunder, Andaman & Nicobar Island based on the concept laid out by the Supreme Court in its judgements.

Chief Justice (CJ) of the High Court, T S Sivagnanam on Thursday inaugurated the centre, calling it a “red letter day” in the judiciary of Andaman and Nicobar. He said the concept of establishing such a center was pursuant to a direction by the Supreme Court.

“A committee was constituted under the chairmanship of Justice Gita Mittal, former chief justice of Jammu and Kashmir High Court. We were able to implement this concept in several districts of West Bengal and now at Mayabunder,” he said. The CJ highlighted that the chairman of the VWDC committee at New Delhi was considerate to appreciate the peculiar problems faced by the Bengal judiciary as well as in Anadaman and Nicobar, more particularly the space crunch.

“Therefore, we requested the committee in Delhi to allow us to make slight changes from the prototype model shown to us. All our district court complexes have severe space crunch. With the available space we scaled down the entire model ensuring that as far as possible we are able to achieve the parameters fixed. The VWDC Mayabunder was so designed that it has all the

essential features.”

He informed that the centre has been established at a cost of Rs 29 lakh. “It has all the features. I am sure the district judiciary at Mayabunder will put the centre to the best use so that the purpose is achieved,” he said. The CJ also mentioned that apart from the centre, a video conferencing room was inaugurated equipped with the latest IT infrastructure.

“This will be used by the judicial officers so that people need not have to travel to the mainland from Mayabunder which appears to be a very difficult task,” he said. In January 2024, the Supreme Court had directed all the High Courts to take necessary steps to set up VWDCs in all districts. The objective of these centres is to provide a safe and barrier-free environment for recording the evidence of vulnerable witnesses which is not limited to child witnesses but also extends to victims of

sexual assault.

It also includes witnesses with mental illness and ones suffering from any disability.