For the first time in India, Gujarat introduces Model e-Court

In Ahmedabad, Police had to engage a huge force in ferrying prisoners between jail and court everyday. But now after setting up of the model e-court, undertrials would be prevented from stepping out of jail for the court purpose for the first time in India.

After curbing prisoners’ trips to Civil Hospital, the beginning of e-court in Ahmedabad through advanced video conferencing (VC) facility in different city courts connected with Sabarmati Central Jail will take off the police’s burden to bring the prisoners in court for regular production and trial.

With e-court facility inaugurated by the Chief Justice of India KG Balakrishnan on Sunday moring at Ahmedabad’s Tagore hall, Police will be saving 2,400 man-hours daily. This would result in an increased strength as everyday, nearly 200 to 250 prisoners are taken to court from Ahmedabad’s Sabarmati jail sparing 300 policemen. E-court facility would enhance the security of the jail premise too.

Till date, the video conferencing facility used to connect the Bhadra court with the Central jail only and there was just one unit functioning. But now, three studios are being created in jail, and three courts are to be equipped with video conferencing facility. Out of them, one is ready which was inaugurated today.

This court has multi-point video conferencing facility, connecting it to the jail, the police commissioner office, the district collectorate as well as the Forensic Science Laboratory. Moreover, this court will soon be connected with other centres as well as other states, curtailing the elaborate and time consuming exercise of serving summons and bringing witnesses to courtroom.

The initial cost for the pilot project is being estimated at about Rs. 82.50 lakh, with a recurring cost of Rs. 5.30 lakh per annum. The cost of replicating the project comes to around Rs. 24 lakh.

The project is likely to be implemented in the State’s three largest districts of Rajkot, Vadodara and Surat during the second phase.