The newly opened e-court made speedy trail possible in the cases related to some of the erstwhile Maoists which were pending since a long time. The court has also made it convenient both for administration and the jail officials to produce the accused persons in Ranchi court through video conferencing who are lodged in the jails of other remote districts of the state.
“As production of hardcore Maoists who are lodged in different jails of the state costs a lot on the state exchequer, e-court will be save both money and time making fast trial possible in the case of surrendered Moists,” said Public Prosecutor Sayuf Ansari.
Today, statements of four witnesses were recorded in an encounter case lodged under Bundu Police station while the surrendered hardcore Maoists Marshal Tuti, Vikas Da and Chand Mahto accused in another case are currently lodged in Saraikela jail, added Ansari. On Saturday, two cases were heard connecting Hazaribagh and Hotwar jails in Ranchi with the e-court room in Ranchi.
The proceedings at the e-court were carried out while the three accused lodged in Saraikela jail were connected to the Ranchi Court through video conferencing. It would have taken months to take approval of the Saraikela jail authorities, had the Ranchi court had sent formal requests to them.
“Movement for production also costs a lot to the state exchequer as they are moved under tight security cover. There is also no security threat in the e-production,” said Ansari.
As the trial of the accused persons does not takes place in Ranchi court who are lodged in the other jails of the state, unnecessarily delaying the cases further. We will conclude the cases by producing the accused through video conferencing,” said the central project coordinator of e-committee of Jharkhand high court.
The e-court will enable speedy trial which is a right to any accused person, he added. “Moreover, the e-court is a completely a paperless court where recorded statements will be kept in the form of DVDs. No paper is required in this court as everything is in recorded form,” Kavi added.
As almost all the jails in Jharkhand are connected to each other through internet, it became possible for us to take such an initiative in this direction, he said.
E-court has one more advantage that the accused persons who sometimes are dreaded Maoists, will not be able to bully the witnesses and they will be able to record their statements without any fear.
Though the facility of online production of jail inmates through video conferencing has already been introduced in some of the courts in other states, the civil court in Ranchi became the first court to video record the proceedings. The e-court could be connected to all the 26 jails of the state, which include three central jails, 19 district jails and four sub-jails. A maximum of three jails could be connected at at a time with the e-court.