Reasi Court connected to prisons through video conferencing

To expedite the process of disposal of cases, District Court Reasi in Jammu region has been connected with jail through video-conferencing (VC) and first ever remand through VC to the accused persons who are logged in different jails, was successfully conducted.

          One of the long pending bottlenecks in the system with regard to delay in trials of under trial prisoners and increasing pendency of cases has been the non production of under trial prisoners on the required dates due to non-availability of police escorts to take them from the prisons to their courts. As per Criminal Procedure Code, it is the duty of the police to perform this function. However, as number of prisoners has assumed alarming proportions over the years, the police has been hard pressed to provide the requisite manpower to do this job. Escorting prisoners to court or to hospital is hardly a priority area as far as police is concerned. They are overburdened with law and order, crime control, VIP security and ‘Bandhobast’ (preparation duties) and escorting prisoners to court/hospital always goes last on their list of duties. Prison Officers and Judges have been grappling over this issue for many years and in such situation, the video conferencing system is a good option for the criminal justice administration and judicial procedure.

          Therefore, in tune with this modern technology, principal Sessions Judge Reasi Kamlesh Panit also started video conferencing for the trial of under trial prisoners and remand of the accused persons through video conferencing to save the time. Today, the video conferencing was done with the under trial prisoners lodged in District Jail Udhampur and District Jail Jammu. The communication with the under trial prisoners through video conferencing will not only save the time of courts but also resources of the state which is being spent for producing the accused persons or under trial prisoners before the courts. The Courts at Reasi Headquarter had already started extending judicial remands of accused persons before the trial, without producing the accused persons before the courts. The e-Court technical staff installed the equipment and also prepared the line with the concerned Jail authorities for the smooth functioning through video conferencing. Same will be now routine exercise.