HC allows witness living abroad to appear through WhatsApp call
The court was hearing a plea from one Kulvir Ram from Nawanshahr, who had challenged a trial court order wide which one Sunita Rani was allowed to depose in a criminal proceeding through WhatsApp call or other electronic channel.
The Punjab and Haryana high court has allowed a witness, living abroad, to depose in a trial through WhatsApp call.
“The only interest of any witness is to help in the cause of justice, and in return, it would be highly unfair if the court puts such witnesses to unnecessary difficulties, expenditure, or inconvenience when the witnesses themselves have expressed their desire to appear through the ordinary course of video conference and not through embassy. If this court forces them to visit the Indian Embassy, given the reluctance of the witness to travel to the embassy, would cause lack of interest, unnecessary hardships and expenditure to such witnesses,” the bench of justice Anoop Chitkara observed.
The court was hearing a plea from one Kulvir Ram from Nawanshahr, who had challenged a trial court order wide which one Sunita Rani was allowed to depose in a criminal proceeding through WhatsApp call or other electronic channel. Video-conferencing rules of the court allows a witness to depose through Indian Embassy to record a statement.
He had argued that if the witnesses appear through WhatsApp or another video conferencing, someone can impersonate them, and they can be tutored. The witnesses’ statements should be recorded only through the office of the Indian embassy in the country concerned, the petitioner had submitted, adding that rules for video conferences do not permit it and that statements have to be recorded only as per the rules.
The court noted that in the present case, the witness expressed her difficulty in travelling to the Indian embassy and appear from there.
“Given the situation, in the peculiar facts and circumstances, it was fully justified for the trial court concerned to have permitted the recording of the statements of the witnesses through ordinary video conference/WhatsApp video call,” the court recoded, adding that it does not find any illegality in the trial court order. “...instead, it appears to be well reasoned and in sync with ground realities keeping in mind the end-to-end encryption and other in-safety mechanisms of that application,” the bench further said. The court has, however, clarified that at the time of the video conferencing, the camera should cover most of the area of the room, and it should be in such a view that the witnesses are not tutored in any manner or put under any threat, fear, or duress. It also directed the trial court that the witnesses should be identified by checking their identities on the same WhatsApp number from which they are contacted for such call or through the same email IDs from where they are contacted on ascertaining their identity.