Right to fair trial at stake with videoconference hearings, says report
The Hindu
‘Vital stages of a criminal proceeding are not replicable on a videoconferencing hearing’
An accused person’s rights to a fair trial was at stake with videoconference hearings that have become more prevalent during the COVID-19 pandemic, a report by the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI) said on Thursday. Drawing from the experiences of 20 lawyers and 10 judicial officers across the country, the CHRI report found there were some apparent deficiencies in the infrastructure. It added that the accused person’s ability to participate in the proceedings that impact their right to life and liberty was affected by the online hearings. According to data provided by the Supreme Court e-Committee to the Department of Justice, 14,443 courtrooms were yet to be equipped with videoconferencing facilities, while 3,477 courtrooms had been provided with the facilities as of September 2020, the report said. Out of 1,350 prisons in the country, 1,272 prisons had been equipped with videoconferencing facilities, it said.More Related News