Court-prison video linkage helps clear cases faster

Tirupati: Connecting courts and prisons through video linkage would go a long way in ensuring delivery of cost-effective justice services and also ease the burden on the government, observed High Court of Hyderabad judge Justice Vilas V Afzulpurkar.

Speaking after inaugurating the newly-constructed video conference hall at the local court premises here on Friday, the judge said that the prison-court video link taken, following the Supreme Court guideline as part of the pilot project for computerisation of courts, would simplify the procedure for extending the remand of undertrial prisoners. Besides, it would also save time and the ease the burden of bringing the prisoners from the jail to court while helping the government to dispose cases faster.

As many as 37 video linkages between the courts and prisons were proposed in the two Telugu speaking states of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, and Tirupati in Chittoor district is the second court to have the video linkage with prison and the court in Madanapalli in the same district was the first to establish court-prison video link.

As many as 30 remand prisoners were present through video conference to get extension of their remand period by the court in Madanapalli after the facility was introduced in January this year, he averred. Another advantage of the new facility, the judge said that it would enable the government officers or experts, who are the witnesses in the cases, depose from the place of their choice, reducing burden to the government both cost and work wise as well as simplifying court proceedings.

The video link facility will be extended to other court proceeding like examination of witnesses and cross examination in the court, further simplifying the legal procedure benefiting the stake holders’, he added. District and Session judge T Anand, local court judges including Nagarjuna, Syamsundar, Sandhya Rani, Sanyasi Naidu and others were present.