Video Conferencing in Indian Courts: A Pathway to the Justice Platform

Abstract

The fourth paper in the series (Whitepaper Series on Next Generation Justice Platform, Paper 4: Video Conferencing in Indian Courts) provides an overview of the existing implementation of video conferencing and attempts to create a framework for the implementation of virtual courts in the future. With a countrywide lockdown and the enforcement of social distancing, courts across India are using video conferencing to carry on some of their work. This is driven by a need to ensure citizens continue to have access to justice and to avoid a justice gridlock. This pandemic has highlighted gaps in the capacity and readiness of courts to move online in situations such as these. It has also provided an opportunity for the judiciary to accelerate the process of digitisation and create a framework for working online, as far as possible.

Keywords: Justice platform, video conference, Indian courts, access to justice, corona-virus, lock-down, video conferencing, implementation, online courts, virtual courts, technology, pandemic, judiciary