Bombay High Court proposes video facility for trial of juveniles

The Bombay high court has suggested that the juvenile justice boards consider using video conferencing in the trial of children who are in conflict with the law.

A division bench of judges VM Kanade and PD Kode said on Tuesday: "We are seeing a rise in crime committed by juveniles and feel that video conference be set up at juvenile boards." The judges felt that this facility could help to protect the victims deposing before the board.

The judges gave the direction while hearing a bunch of petitions on the delay of trials due to a lack of police personnel to escort undertrials to court.

The judges observed that "in Mumbai, the cost of escorting an accused from prison to court is about Rs30 lakh a day which is very high. The video conference facility is one solution. But it should also be ensured that the accused feel free to speak or complain to the magistrate, just as they would have done when produced in person."

The bench directed the state government to submit a detailed report on how many courts and prisons are being connected through video conferencing and whether proper power supply and back-up supply is provided.

One of the petitions has been filed by Shaikh Abdul Naeem, an inmate of Arthur Road jail, who has mentioned the cases of 46 undertrials who have not been produced in court on more than one occasion.

The high court has also converted a letter received from the principal district judge in Jalna, who raised concern over the unnecessary adjournments as the accused were not brought to court.