High Court of Jammu and Kashmir has started an ambitious task of holding trial of criminal cases in the courts of UTs of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh through video conferencing.
In the cases where the accused are lodged in jails and because of weather vagaries or for reason of law and order situation, cannot be produced in the Court, the proceedings are conducted through electronic video linkage between the Court and the jail.
So far, video conferencing between the courts and the jails was being mainly used for conducting remand proceedings vis-à-vis the accused, who are lodged in jails and with the addition of its use in trial of the cases, a new dimension has been added to the use of technology in the court processes.
Video-conferencing facilities also equip the Courts in UTs of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh with the capacity to receive evidence and submissions from witnesses or persons involved in Court proceedings in circumstances where it would be expensive, inconvenient or otherwise not desirable for a person to attend a Court in person.
An over-riding factor is that use of video-conferencing in any particular case must be consistent with furthering the interests of justice and should cause minimal disadvantage to the parties.
There are various putative advantages of using video conferencing in dispensation of justice. It has been observed that one of the reasons of delay in disposal of criminal cases is that the accused who are lodged in jails are not being produced in the Courts regularly for multiple reasons such as non-availability of police guard, non-availability of transportation facility, law and order problem, etc. This delay will be greatly cut by using video conferencing facility between the Courts and the Jails. In addition to this, there always remains a chance of mischief when the accused are being transported from jail to the Court concerned and use of VC will negate that chance. In some sensitive cases, the accused are also vulnerable to attack and this vulnerability can be taken care of by the use of VC.
Another advantage of use of VC is that the expenses incurred by the State exchequer in transportation of the accused to the Courts will be cut especially in cases where the accused are to be brought from far off places. Also the unnecessary footfall in the Courts can be greatly reduced by use of VC because it has been observed that whenever an accused is physically produced from jail into the Court, he/she is escorted by a number of policemen and his relatives also come to the court to meet the accused. This greatly increases congestion in the Courts. Video Conferencing facility also enables the court to record evidence of experts and also witnesses who reside abroad without incurring the enormous cost of bringing them to the trial Court.
As of now, all the court complexes of the UTs of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh have been provided Video Conferencing facility. Similarly, all the Jails of the UT of Jammu and Kashmir are also equipped with Video Conferencing equipments with MPLS connectivity. On daily basis, number of remands are being granted and trials are being conducted through electronic Video linkage between Courts and Jails of UTs of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.
Very recently, trail of a criminal case could be completed through video conferencing at Camp Court Panamik, Nobra (Leh) which was pending due to non production of an official witness by the prosecution who was resident of a area located hundreds of kilometres away from Camp Court Panamik Leh.
Similarly, while making optimum use of video conferencing facility Principal Sessions Judges of Rajouri, Ramba, Shopian, Kishtwar, Samba, Anantnag and NIA Special Court Jammu have taken lead in conducting trail through electronic video linkage.
In addition, the court in UTs of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh are granting remands through the medium of electronic video linkage, which has now become a regular feature.