Business Standard (India) reports that the Bombay High Court has asked Maharashtra government to file a report giving details of the video conference facility introduced in various courts and jails in the state to avoid delays in producing accused during trials.
The order was delivered by a bench headed by Justice A M Khanvilkar on a petition filed by Shaikh Abdul Nayeem, a convict, urging use of video conference facility for the production of accused in the trial courts while seeking their remand.
Many a times, the accused are not produced in the courts due to lack of escorts or traffic jams resulting in cases being unnecessarily delayed, the petition contended.
The court has asked the state to file an affidavit next week on what steps had been taken to introduce the video conference facility in the courts.
Earlier, the court had asked the state government to explain why despite short distances between courts and jails, a large number of accused are produced in court through video conferencing in some districts.
Additional public prosecutor Aruna Pai had already submitted a report filed by the state home department giving details of video conference facility in 29 districts in the state.
Amicus curiae Niteen Pradhan had argued that while the distances between jails and courts in Nagpur, Aurangabad and Chandrapur were between two and 10 km, the number of accused produced through video conferencing was disproportionately large.