Maharashtra considering inclusion of whistle-blowers, RTI activists in Witness act

The Maharashtra government was considering inclusion of whistle-blowers and RTI activists in the proposed Witness Protection Act, it told the Bombay high court on Monday.

The Maharashtra government was considering inclusion of whistle-blowers and RTI activists in the proposed Witness Protection Act, it told the Bombay high court on Monday.

While a policy to provide police protection to witnesses in sensitive cases was already in place, a legislation would be framed soon, additional government pleader Nitin Deshpande told the division bench of justice AS Oka and justice Revati Mohite-Dere.

Apart from the witnesses, the government was considering inclusion of RTI activists and whistle-blowers in the Act, he said.

Giving the government three months to frame the law, the HC said until it came into effect, the police should provide protection to whistle-blowers and RTI activists upon request.

The issue of protection of witnesses, whistle-blowers and activists was taken up suo moto (on its own) by the court after the murder of Pune-based RTI activist Satish Shetty in 2010.