The witness was a rickshaw puller Niranjan Sardar from Akola. He and his wife Sangeeta were waiting to board a train for their native town at the CST on 26/11 night. Like many others, the couple was caught in the attack, both sustained bullet injuries, but they survived and re-united.
Sangeeta had deposed on Monday and on Friday Niranjan did it too in the court.
“How much do you earn?” designated judge M L Tahilyani asked the witness. “Sir, I manage to earn Rs 3,000 to Rs 4,000 a month,” Niranjan replied. The judge immediately queried the investigating officer Ramesh Mahale whether the witness has been paid for his ticket and whether he has been compensated for three days of his stay in Mumbai. Mahale replied that the witness was paid for the tickets.
Normally, a witness is treated with a cup of tea and biscuits but not compensated. At this, the court told the authorities to consider paying Niranjan compensation because he has a meagre income and suffered loss of earnings.
Published 03 July 2009, 16:52 IST