The Special CBI Court of Shiv Pal Singh might have taken a belated decision to pronounce its judgement in a fodder scam case through video-conferencing, but the e-court in Ranchi Civil Court has enabled speedy trial possible in the cases related to some of the erstwhile Maoists, pending since long.
Of late, it has also facilitated production of VVIPs in some high profile cases before concerned courts online without bothering the administration.
According to official data, more than 250 accused persons are produced through video conferencing and over 10 trial cases are conducted per day on an average in the E-Court located in Ranchi Civil Court. The two e-courts remain occupied throughout the day.
“In December itself, as many as trials in 112 cases were conducted through e-Court while in November 300 cases related to different matters, including production were conducted,” said sources in the Civil Court. Similarly, in October also, 289 calls were made in different cases enabling production and trial of accused persons though e-Court, it added.
Ranchi civil court obtained its first e-court room in September 2013 and the second one in February, 2016.
In addition to that, the e-court has also made it convenient 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, lodged in different jails of the state costs a lot on the state exchequer, e-court saves both money and time making fast trial possible in the case of surrendered Maoists,” said General Secretary of Ranchi District Bar Association Sanjay Vidrohi. Sometimes, proceedings are also carried out through e-court in which the accused persons are lodged in a far away jail through video conferencing saving a lot of time and money of the State Government, he said.
“It would have taken months to take approval of the Saraikela jail authorities, had the Ranchi court had sent formal requests to them,” said Vidrohi. Movement for production also costs a lot to the state exchequer as they are moved under tight security cover, he added.
“In addition to that, there is also no security threat in the e-production,” said Vidrohi. The e-court also enables speedy trial which is a right to any accused person, he added.
“Moreover, the e-court is a complete paperless court where recorded statements are e-kept in the form of DVDs. No paper is required in this court as everything is in recorded form,” said the RDBA General Secretary. All the jails are now connected to each other though internet, which makes it easier to get connected to each other. The court staff also termed e-court as cost effective.
“The e-court is quite useful in terms of safety of some of the hardcore criminals or Maoists and is also cost effective as it saves the expenses of bringing the undertrial prisoners from jails located several km away from the court as and when required involving several vehicles for security reasons,” said a court staff requesting anonymity.
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.
The e-court is 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 with the e-court at a time.
Trial of the cases is likely be expedited soon after all the courts in Ranch Civil court goes gets e-court facility.