New Delhi: In pursuance of the Supreme Court directive, the Central Government has provided CISF (Central Industrial Security Force) security cover to 200 witnesses of Gujarat riot cases and the lawyer fighting for justice to victims of the communal violence.

The witnesses have been put up at six clusters across Gujarat and a few places in some other states for provision of area security rather than guarding them individually, official sources told. Teesta Stelvad, lawyer of the victims, has also been provided the CISF security in view of threat perception to her, they said.

Refusing to divulge the strength of deployment for the purpose, the sources said the personnel were highly trained in personal protection and sensitised about their requirement in the given circumstances.

"The victims had lost all faith in the State police and keeping this in view the Supreme Court had directed provision of security of central para-military forces to them," they pointed out.

"After getting security from central forces, confidence level of the witnesses has gone up considerably benefiting the cases," the sources said.

Prior to deploying the security, a team of top officials from Central Government agencies including Intelligence Bureau and CISF visited Gujarat to making an assessment about the security requirement.