Video Conferencing Behind Bars
A case study on Collaboration in Logistics & TrasportationReader ROI
Executive Summary
According to the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), as on June 30, 2004, 336,152 prisoners were crowded into jails across India. An overwhelming 239,146 of them - accounting for over 70 percent - occupy the shadowy world of the undertrial. Many undertrials continue to languish in jail only because the justice system, burdened with logistical problems, is unable to give them a hearing. The only way out was to radically change the way that undertrials got a hearing. And video conferencing was the answer.
The road to video conferencing in courts was paved by the Supreme Court in 2001, when it authorized the technology's use during trials. The judgment settled matters: Any resistance to buy-in from lower courts or prison departments was quickly banished.
Case Study Highlights
- The path to video conferencing was created by the Supreme Court in 2001
- In 2003 Mysore conducted India’s first long distance case, involving copyright violation against LA-based 20th Century Fox through video conferencing
- Between June 2003 and November 2005, 68,191 people from five jails across Karnataka were produced before the Magistrate using video conferencing
- Video conferencing has made possible for judges to view the inmates. This has made the jail authorities more accountable
The step, which pleasantly surprised many given the normally conservative approach of the law, wasn't a sudden decision. The Supreme Court, the Department of Information Technology (DIT) and the National Informatics Centre (NIC) had been working with the ministries of Home and Law since the early 1990s to create a video conferencing system. It was part of a larger movement driven by the NIC to computerize the Supreme Court. They worked in collaboration with Singapore, which had utilized IT effectively in the judicial process since 1996.
Video conferencing is one of those rare solutions that work to everyone's convenience. State governments have been able to save considerably using video conferencing. Video conferencing had saved the Karnataka government over Rs 1.26 crore in transportation costs alone. It's the sort of money that goes a long way in a prison, which would explain why almost every state capital now video conferences between its city court and jails.
There's more to video conferencing than merely bridging the physical distance between the jail and the courtroom, echoes Dr. V. Vijayakumar, Registrar and Professor of Law, National Law School of India University, Bangalore. Dr. Vijayakumar says that video conferencing is really useful in child molestation cases where victims are shielded from the trauma of facing their assailants via a one-way video link.
Video conferencing works two-ways. The court's ability to look into prisons has reduced the harassment of inmates and given them a better chance to access medical aid. The system has also proved its effectiveness in high-profile cases where witness protection is mandated.
The benefits of video conferencing in courts have ensured that its usage has spread. "Almost every state capital has got video-conferencing between its city court and jail," points out C. L. M. Reddy, Head of Department, Courts Division, National Informatics Center, New Delhi.
The NIC, taking the process one step further, has proposed that lawyers should be allowed to video conference between their offices and the court, saving them travel costs and discomfort too. This request is still pending with the judiciary.
Video conferencing is being greeted so enthusiastically by those connected with the law that newer uses are being found continually. Tihar Jail now uses video conferencing between inmates and visitors to curb the smuggling of money, narcotics, cell phones and weapons.
The Person Behind It
Thanks largely to video conferencing, there has been no undertrial escapes from national prisons in two years.
Video conferencing has curbed corruption, enhanced accountability, and reduced the number of adjournments in a case.
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