Page 129 - Constitution

70 Years of Indian

Constitution

Certainly virtual courts are not
while saying “Innovations for access to justice in such
free from disruptions, but this
environments, especially for poor and marginalized
populations, will require legal aid and assistance providers is rather a regulatory concern

to not only make the services accessible virtually, but to
than one based on principle
also actively work with populations to ensure that they
understand how to use the online services and that these
services meet their needs.”
court halls and traditional devices. Even in such trials,
There are also issues of technical glitches on the basis
digitalisation process to the possible and permissible
of which some lawyers claim that virtual court is not a
extent needs identification and codification. India
perfect court. Their argument is that due to limitations in
needs to evolve a forensic law that specifies the legal
technology, proceedings are often interrupted and not
situations that could be digitally manned by combining
seamless as they otherwise would be. Now, certainly
technology with procedural law.
virtual courts are not free from disruptions, but this is
There are different views on the kind of virtual
rather a regulatory concern than one based on principle.
application to be employed by the courts. User-friendly
The response must be to address the novel problems
applications must be identified and used based on
arising out of a newly introduced technology than to
specific requirements and situational exigencies.
reject virtual courts as a whole. Adequate safeguards are
Privacy concerns, however, should not negate the idea
not impossible to be installed, to reduce the amount and
of open court. The Supreme Court in Swapnil Tripathi
extent of these disruptions.
case (2018) has accepted the plea for live streaming
There are worries about the efficiency in sensitive
of proceedings of general importance in principle.
cases such as criminal trials. Serious criminal trials in
Digitalisation can accelerate the process.
adversarial system may sometimes require conventional

The authors Kaleeswaram Raj & Ms Thulasi K. Raj are lawyers at Supreme

Court of India. Both are practising in the Supreme Court of India and the

High Court of Kerala.

70 Years of Indian Constitution 129