Judicial innovation

It is something of a rarity for good news to emerge from our sclerotic judicial system, but recent reports of the development of eCourts are much to be welcomed. An eCourt may be any area designated as a place where legal matters are decided so long as a judge is present, and which has a developed technical infrastructure manned by people familiar with its usage. They will allow trials to be conducted without prisoners having to be transported from jail to the courthouse — often a costly and risky procedure — and will provide protection and anonymity for witnesses as well as considerable speeding up of a process that is notoriously slow.

The eCourt allows for the dispensation of justice in the modern era, utilising Skype as a means of connecting all the relevant players in the judicial process, and it has already been used successfully in an accountability court in the last month. The court was able to dispose of a Modaraba case in 20 days and recorded the testimonies of 23 witnesses via the Skype network. This innovatory and effective approach to an age-old problem comes from within the judiciary itself and was first discussed conceptually as long ago as 2012. It quickly gained notice and traction, and an anti-terrorism court in Rawalpindi heard evidence from witness Mark Siegel in the USA via a video link. This has matured, and an accountability judge has converted his courtroom into an eCourt at minor expense and without federal funding.

Any improvement to the justice system has to be welcomed, and eCourts, though not a universal panacea could go a long way towards improving the quality of justice nationally. There are now functional eCourts in Faisalabad and Gujranwala. They are convenient, cost effective and immediately lessen the risk of under-trial prisoners interfering with witnesses or their relatives. A network of eCourts in 36 districts of Punjab linking the 40 provincial prisons could be constructed for less than Rs10 million — bargain basement prices. It is now for provincial authorities to seize the moment, because opportunities such as this come but rarely. An idea has found its time.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 14^th, 2016.

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