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Mohammed Asarudeen v. Union of India

Criminal Appeal · 2025 INSC 746Decided 6 May 2025
Crl.A. No.-002443-002443 - 2025 (arising out of SLP (Crl.) No. 18155/2024)
Justice Abhay S. Oka · Justice Ujjal Bhuyan

Background

The appellant, accused No. 1 in an NIA case being tried before the Special NIA Court in Chennai, faced charges initially under IPC provisions for assault and attempted murder, later enhanced to include murder and UAPA offences. The prosecution asked the Special Court to withhold the identity and statements of several protected witnesses from the accused, citing danger to their lives. The Special Court allowed this but said the withheld statements would be handed to the accused after examination-in-chief of each witness; the High Court, on the NIA's challenge, struck down that safeguard, ruling the accused would never get those statements at all.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court held that neither the Special Court nor the High Court had properly applied Section 44(2) of the UAPA (mirrored in Section 17(2) of the NIA Act), which requires the court to first record a specific, witness-by-witness satisfaction that a particular witness's life is in danger, based on actual material, not a blanket, omnibus finding covering many witnesses at once. Having recorded such satisfaction, the court must then separately decide, with brief reasons, what protective measures are proportionate. Since the Special Court had made only a general observation without individualized satisfaction, its order could not stand, and the High Court's ruling (that once protection is granted it can never be diluted, even after examination-in-chief) ignored the second half of the provision. The Court set aside both orders and gave the prosecution eight weeks to file a proper, witness-specific application; until then, the identity of the named witnesses stays protected. It clarified that the accused generally has a right to be heard on such applications, though the court can still withhold the underlying threat material from the accused if warranted.

Lesson Learnt

Courts cannot grant blanket, one-size-fits-all witness-protection orders under UAPA/NIA Act provisions: protection of a witness's identity must be justified individually with recorded reasons for each witness, balancing witness safety against the accused's right to a fair defence.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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