Witness Identity Protection - Law Commission of India

46of maintaining anonymity at the appellate stage. Same is the view of onePublic Prosecutor from Hyderabad.Lt. Col. S.K. Agarwal from Judge Advocate General branch hasopined that anonymity should be maintained only during investigation,inquiry and at stage of committal proceedings, if any. But anonymitycannot be effectively maintained once the trial starts. Same is the view of anadvocate from Hyderabad.An Advocate from Tamil Nadu is of the view that anonymity can bemaintained only during investigation stage and thereafter maintaininganonymity will affect free and fair trial. Contrary to it an Advocate fromMaharashtra is of the view that anonymity can be maintained during inquiryand trial and appeal stage, but should not be maintained during investigationstage, as it will give undue power to police.Another Advocate from Maharashtra, who is also member ofMaharashtra State Law Commission is of the view that considering thesocial structure in India and the criminal judicial set up, practically it wouldnot be possible to maintain anonymity at any stage of a case.(Q) 2. Do you think witness anonymity should be confined to criminalcases or should anonymity be provided in civil case as well? Should itbe extended to defence witnesses also, as done under some statutes inother countries?In some countries, apart from the prosecution witnesses, defencewitnesses can also seek anonymity. Similarly even witnesses in civil cases