One of the main reasons for the missing witnesses is the delay in judicial proceedings. If the trial prolongs for years, then some of the witnesses may move out to other places, some may even have died, etc.
If the witnesses are not found at their addresses and are reported by police to have moved out to some other city, etc., the police is expected to make detailed enquiries from the locality and the relatives of the witnesses (and other persons known to them) to find out their current addresses. Nowadays, even mobile numbers of the witnesses are supposed to be mentioned in their statements recorded by the police. So that should help. Though difficult, it is not impossible to locate the whereabouts of the witnesses who have moved out to some other places. If a witness is crucial for a trial, the police is expected to put in its best efforts to locate him. Formal witnesses, whose evidence is going to be of much consequence, may be dropped.
Fresh summons (and, where needed, warrants) may be issued by the court to produce those witnesses and some more opportunities may be given to the prosecution to locate and produce those witnesses.
If such witnesses cannot be found in spite of all best possible efforts, then there is no option but to proceed with the trial on the basis of the remaining evidence. No doubt, this may help the accused persons, but there may not be other option available. The court has the power to drop such witnesses and proceed further with the trial.
Dr. Ashok Dhamija is a New Delhi based Supreme Court Advocate and author of law books. Read more about him by clicking here. List of his Forum Replies. List of his other articles. List of his Quora Answers. List of his YouTube Videos.
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