Sitting at a restaurant in Vancouver's India town waiting for the chai to arrive, one could not help but overhear the loud banter at the table near the entrance of the eatery.

Four Sikhs delving into the sizzling chicken tandoori were animatedly discussing the goings-on at the on going Air India trial.

"She used to work for him," said one. Another said: "She is now saying she did not want to go the RCMP, I don't believe her."

A third, dipping his chapatti in some dahl, opined that the case was in shambles because of the woman.

The fourth described the woman in great detail and referred to her by name.

The men were discussing a secret witness at the Air India trial - the same one whose name, image and background is heavily protected by a court-imposed ban.

The woman, who fears for her life is in the RCMP's witness protection program being paid $33,600 a year to testify against the key accused in the Air India trial.

She is one of three such witnesses in the trial in which Kamloops mill worker Ajaib Singh Bagri and Vancouver millionaire Ripudaman Singh Malik are charged with eight counts including murder, attempted murder and conspiracy in two bombings on June 23, 1985.

The first bomb exploded at Tokyo's Narita Airport, killing two baggage handlers who were loading a suitcase from Vancouver onto an Air India flight.

The second bomb ripped through Air India Flight 182 less than an hour later, killing all 329 aboard. Like the four Sikhs in the restaurant, the identity of the woman is no secret to most of those who have been keeping abreast of the developments in the case.

Most in India town and Canada's Indo-Canadian community know who the secret witness is.

The media, defence lawyers, the accused, their friends and relatives and those that she fears all know who she is.

And for those who do not know who she is, the so called protected witness, a love interest of one of the accused, can be easily found inside the heavily guarded courtroom in downtown Vancouver.

This brings us to the question what is the purpose of the publication ban on the identity of the woman.

The RCMP convinced the judge hearing the case that even courtroom sketches bearing the woman's obscured image will put the life of the witness at risk.

That resulted in the Vancouver Sun and The Province inadvertently publishing sketches they were not supposed to and the Apna Roots Punjabi paper publishing her first name.

All three have been chastised by the court and have apologized.

After the breaches, the RCMP wanted to ban reporters from writing anything more about the woman's testimony.

Thankfully Justice Ian Bruce Josephson followed the principle that for justice to be done it must be seen to be done and rejected the highhanded request by the RCMP.

Everyone knows the media makes mistakes.

But for the RCMP to come out guns blazing and accuse the media of jeapordizing the trial by showing unrecognizable sketches of the so-called secret witness is absurd.

Lest we forget, it was the bumbling of the RCMP and the Canadian spy agency that has dominated the Air India saga and caused one of the biggest police embarrassments for Canada.

If not for some members of the media, one of whom was hired to work undercover during the investigations, the RCMP may not have even gotten as far as laying charges.

As for their star secret witness, she had to go to the media before the RCMP decided to rope her in.

After the breaches by the media over the last few weeks, Jeff Hayes, a lawyer for the police force said the public's confidence in the authority and integrity of the court and administration of justice has been eroded, adding that the RCMP's efforts to protect the witness has been impaired.

Spokesman for the Crown, Geoff Gaul, said the publication ban is there to protect the woman whose life could be in danger if certain people discover who she is.

Justice Josephson, who is hearing the complicated case without a jury, said the ability of the RCMP to attract future participants to the witness protection program has been compromised.

Maybe these three guys should go have some chai in India town where they will learn that the identity of their secret witness is no secret at all.