A special committee of senior Mumbai Police officers will meet within a week to discuss the issue of witness protection, and give final touches to a proposal to the state government on the introduction of such a programme.

A proposal has been pending with the government for several years, and the police committee will now forward a revised one.

“We had already sent a proposal that a witness protection programme be introduced for cases of organised crime and terrorism, in which witnesses are few. The government is yet to take a call on this, and several meetings are lined up. In fact, in a week’s time, a committee, formed by the Commissioner of Police and including the Additional Commissioner of Police and Joint Commissioner of Police, will meet to draw up a revised proposal,” said Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) Rakesh Maria.

“Most developed countries have such a witness protection scheme. There is a need for such a programme in our country too,” Maria added.

Sources said some of the aspects being considered as part of the programme are: transferring the witness from his/her hometown to another city; the government providing the witness with a job similar to the one he/she was in; giving the witness a new name and identification documents; and accepting responsibility for the witness’s family and providing it with security cover.