The Supreme Court has directed the High Courts of the country to provide an estimate of manpower required to create Vulnerable Witness Deposition Centre (VWDC) scheme in their states within three months. It has introduced new definitions to the vulnerable victims.

Who are vulnerable victims?

The Supreme Court has included the sexually assaulted victims in the vulnerable witnesses. The other vulnerable victims are as follows:

• Gender neutral victims of sexual assault
• Witnesses under threat perception. These witnesses are those included under the Witness Protection Scheme of the Union launched by the Central Government in 2018.
• Witnesses suffering from mental illness as defined in mental health care act
• Hearing impaired or speech impaired individuals
• Person suffering from other disabilities as defined by the courts
• Sexual assault victims as defined by Section 377 of IPC

 About the VWDC Centre

The centre will create a safe environment to record the statements of the vulnerable victims. Under the scheme, the high courts should establish a VWDC committee. The need to establish these centres were pending before the court for two decades.