Now Reading: Virtual courts in India work well in metros, falter in talukas
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Virtual courts in India work well in metros, falter in talukas
A Bengaluru virtual hearing proceeds smoothly while a Bihar district court adjourns due to poor internet and shared laptops, barandbench.com reports. The e-Courts Mission Mode Project has pushed digitisation for two decades,…
The Story in Brief
A Bengaluru virtual hearing proceeds smoothly while a Bihar district court adjourns due to poor internet and shared laptops, barandbench.com reports. The e-Courts Mission Mode Project has pushed digitisation for two decades, but implementation varies wildly by location. High Courts framed their own video-conferencing rules, creating 25 overlapping systems. Metropolitan commercial courts have dedicated bandwidth and backup power, but taluka courts often share a single laptop and suffer intermittent connectivity. For undertrial prisoners, a functioning video link can mean the difference between a bail hearing this week or three months later. The e-Committee's own data shows a stark gap between best and worst-performing states.
The Indian Opinion
The government's claim of India as a global leader in virtual hearings papers over a stark digital divide. The real test is not aggregate numbers but state-wise data on undertrial bail hearings conducted via video link. Until the gap between metro and taluka courts narrows, the promise of equal access to justice under Article 21 remains hollow. Watch the next e-Committee newsletter for district court figures.
Source: barandbench.com
This story was synthesised by AI from the source linked above.
