AUTHOR: Yatharth Vashishta, a student at Bennett University (Times Group)
TO THE POINT:
Now, all over the world legal system is accepting the hybrid working, many justices’ system faces critical opinions and decisions on remote technology in the courtroom system, it is great debate for the legal system all over the world to whether choose to keep developing with the rise of use of technology or to shift back towards more physical. This is very subjective to the jurisdictions as some are more advanced than others, while some face barriers to these technological advancements. To the change there is always two reactions one that praises the change and accepts the dynamic process and other which is always resistant to the dynamic changes.
Analysing the situation particularly in India, we have moved faster than most of the legal systems when it comes to e-filing, live- streaming and hearings being hold remote completely. One reason why India is ahead in this track is that the extensive use of technology in its court system is not very new. Talking about the history the Supreme court of India had first permitted witness depositions using technology as back as the year 2003, Eventually remote justice was allowed through introduction of video conferencing rules in 2020. In 2020 Supreme Court passed an order which gave validity to court hearings held by video conferencing and in 2021 the e-committee of the SCI released a draft rules model for the live streaming and recordings of court proceedings.
USE OF LEGAL JARGONS:
To fully grasp the intricacies of the working of remote court hearings some basic legal jargons/terms need clarification:
Adjournment: A postponement of a case until a later date.
Appeal: A request to s higher court to review a lower court’s decision.
Litigation; The process of carrying on a lawsuit, or the lawsuit itself.
Litigator: A lawyer who prepares cases for trial, tries cases, and handles appeals.
Virtual Courts- A concept that permits cases to be heard online, without the physical presence in the court, Virtual Courts can be administered by a judge who can work anytime from anywhere.
Remote Hearings- A term used to describe hearings conducted virtually using video conferencing technology.
E-filing- A process that allows litigants to file a plaint electronically.
Online case status: A process that allows to view the status of their case online.
Remote Deposition: A deposition conducted via video conferencing or other remote means.
Remote Notarization: The notarization of documents via video conferencing or other remote means.
E- Signature- An electronic Signature that is legally binding.
These are some of the basic legal jargons used in the proceedings of the cases in virtual courtrooms and remote hearings.
THE PROOF:
Pandemic played a role of catalyst to this process of adapting technology in Indian justice system. While the rules for remote hearings were predominantly for accused to attend the hearing from prison, the pandemic changed the idea of remote hearings, the parties and their councils could attend the proceedings from different places.
Also D.Y Chandrachud after becoming 50th Chief Justice Of India gave a big push to this revolution as under his governance he made sure that this adaptation of technology in the legal system is continuous and is taking place efficiently also in a speech recently he mentioned that around 19.2 million cases have been heard virtually in the high court and district courts of India by the end of April 2024 with 17.8 million cases being disposed of. These cases were majorly smaller cases for example cases of traffic offences and contractual disputes.
ABSTRACT:
Whenever we hear the word courtroom a basic picture which comes to the mind of each one of us is of a room with a judge sitting and hearing the case, lawyers presenting their sides and concerned ones sitting and analysing the whole proceedings, this is the basic image is formed in our minds it is because from the years and years this is what courtroom is for all of us, but as we all are aware of the technological advancements which have been taking place in the every field in the era of digital India legal field is no less than any other field. Nowadays we can see a concept of virtual courtrooms and we are going to discuss the whole concept of the virtual courtrooms and remote proceedings in detail.
CASE LAWS:
To deeply understand the rise of the concept of virtual courtrooms and use of technology Indian legal system certain case laws are required to be discussed here which are relevant and align with the rise of this concept:
State of Maharashtra v. Dr. Praful B Desai: Thia was the landmark case passed by supreme court, where video conferencing was held to be a vital tool for collecting evidence in cases where the witness reasonably fails to make an appearance in the court of examination. The supreme court mentioned that the actual physical presence in the court is not must and can be overlooked in the cases where the witness is unable to show up in the court physically due to satisfactory reasons, In this landmark case video conferencing of a witness was allowed as he resided in abroad and was unable to come due to satisfactory reasons, This was the landmark case for the use of technology in the Indian legal system .
Amitabh Bagchi v. Ena Bagchi: In this case the high court of Calcutta observed that it was important to allow electronic video conferencing as it was cost-effective and avoided delay of justice.
Bodala Murli Krishna v. Smt Badola Prathima: the Andhra Pradesh high court held that video conferencing can be resorted to in civil cases as far as necessary facilities and assured accuracy are maintained.
Krishna Veni Nagam v. Harish Nagam: In this case it was held that when both the parties of a matrimonial dispute are not located within the jurisdiction of the same court, they can participate in the case through video conferencing.
Swapnil Tripathi v. Supreme Court of India: A law student was not allowed to watch the SC proceedings in person. The court held that under Article 21 of the Indian Constitution, the public has right to access justice and thus, the court proceedings should be streamed live especially for the benefit of journalists, lawyers, activists and law students for academic purposes.
Santhini v. Vijaya Venkatesh: Justice DY Chandrachud wrote in favour of the use of modern technology and video conferencing.
These are some case laws which eventually helped in growth of concept of use of modern technology in the Indian legal system and promoted the idea of virtual courtrooms and remote proceedings.
PROS AND CONS OF USING TECHNOLOGY IN LEGAL SYSTEM:
Some pros or advantages of using technology drive courts like virtual courts and remote hearings are:
After the introduction of virtual courts and using technology in Indian legal system has been proved beneficial in several ways which are as follows:
A very small section of people has access to conventional courts and even if they have, it is accessible at disproportionate expense as well as effort. However, with virtual courtrooms, such issue can be resolved.
Remote hearing and virtual courtrooms help in saving a lot of time and energy of every concerned person related to the case, also it helps in saving costs of travelling for litigants and help in saving the substantial costs incurred by the courts as well.
Appeals and final hearings are certain categories that do not need the parties or counsels to be physically present, virtual hearings are good substitute to these to reduce footfall and burden on courts.
Huge expenses are incurred in the establishment of a large number of courts and tribunals which can be reduces by setting up of these technologically driven virtual courts, Alao the cost of litigation can also be reduced with this as physical presence in the court is not required.
Now talking about some cons or disadvantages of using the technologically driven courts like virtual courts and remote hearings are:
The accessibility of technology and internet services are not very convent in each part of the country till now, litigants and advocates residing in the rural areas of the country which lacks basic infrastructure and internet services faces difficulty to access the facility of virtual courts or to proceed with remote hearings.
As many of the citizens belong to lower economic class and hence, they are unable to avail the IT services or internet services so this everyone cannot access justice through this concept as India needs large scale technology awareness programs to make it possible in each and every corner of the country which us nearly impossible but can be done with proper planning and implementation.
Also, another disadvantage is of risk of data leak, in many cases there is personal information involved like in matrimonial or rape cases which is sensitive information so as technology can also be used in way that can be a problem for many like the data can be hacked which cn cause great trouble to the parties involved in that case.
So, these are some disadvantages of using technology in Indian Legal System.
CONCLUSION/SUGGESTIONS:
There is no doubt that usage of technology in the legal system like virtual courtrooms and remote hearings through different means have become the call for the time now and it is very important for all to adapt it as soon as possible, However it is also very important to address the issues associated with it at the different levels of implementation of this system in the Indian legal system. Due to spread of covid-19 pandemic this concept was hurriedly adopted by the legal system without too much efforts made to align it with Indian conditions, So I suggest after proper research a new mechanism should be made just for the sake of providing justice through virtual courtrooms and it should not be done the same software’s which are commonly use by all for all other purposes as this increases the threats to security of privacy and also threats to many other aspects. Security of this software should be of utmost concern to avoid any unethical practice like hacking or any other security breach. It should be a well organised software which gives limited access to the persons according to their roles so that secretive information can’t be leaked easily.
Using this software can also help in reducing corruption in the legal system as calculation of fees of the courts and working of everyone will be on portal and submission of fee will be online so it will automatically reduce the scope of corruption as transactions will be transparent and clear to all, and the authorities can also keep check easily through monitoring the software.
Also, the user interface of the software should be simple and easily understandable to all so that people of non-technical background can easily access and use it efficiently.
Mentioning about the live streaming concept it should be allowed for the various purposes like academics, but parties should be given choice whether they have any issue with it or not specially in the cases of matrimonial disputes, domestic violence, rape, also matter of national security, defence and any such other issue should be excluded of live streaming.
Looking at it from broad perspective the concept of virtual courts is a great beginning, and to implement it systematically it will require heavy research and a great strategy to be followed upon. Thus, this idea is towards the better future of the legal system in India as it will resolve many issues like load on physical courts and will definitely improve the working of courts here in India, At last I would like to say that technology has taken up the world and we should also follow it in the legal system and adapt to it as soon as possible so that Indian legal system can deliver justice to its best capabilities.
FAQ(s):
1.What and when was the first event took place in Indian Legal system that was a base for the usage of technology?
In 2003, in the landmark case of State of Maharastra v. Praful Desai (2003 4 SCC 601) the supreme court held that recording of evidence by way of video conferencing might be done in the cases where the attendance of the witness cannot be ensured without delay, expense and inconvenience.
2. What is India’s stance on the topic of virtual courtrooms and remote hearings?
India’s stance is very positive and have already adopted this model and working with it more efficiently day by day, 50th Chief Justic of India have clearly supported the usage of technology like setting p of virtual courts ad remote hearings in many of his speeches and judgements.
3. Should proceedings be live-streamed?
In my opinion selectively Yes, there should be consent of the parties in some special cases like that of domestic violence, rape or matrimonial disputes as it involves personal and sensitive data related to these kinds of cases, So specially in these kind of cases consent should be taken and as mentioned case above Swapnil Tripathi v. Supreme Court of India in which it was held that public have right to access the justice so the proceedings should be live streamed for the benefit of journalists , lawyers , academics generally for public at large.
SOURCES USED/REFRENCES:
Mimi Zou, Virtual Justice in the Time of COVID-19, University of Oxford, Faculty of Law, March 16, 2020, available at https://www.law.ox.ac.uk/business-law-blog/blog/2020/03/virtual-justice-time-covid-19
International Forum on Online Courts December 3-4, 2018, The Cutting Edge of Digital Reform, available at https://doj.gov.in/sites/default/files/Final%20Tour%20Report%20UK%20V3.pdf
