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New Delhi: The use of video-conferencing facilities to take depositions from witnesses is no longer an unusual event in Indian trial courts.
It is being used in some states to record the statements of prisoners undergoing trial. However, in recent months, Indian judges have been receptive to taking depositions in matrimonial cases through video conferences even from people based overseas.
A family court in Chennai conducted proceedings in a divorce case for a couple based in two different countries last year through video-conferencing, while courts in Delhi have also accepted depositions from Indians living in the US through video-conferencing.
Despite the practical and infrastructural difficulties of arranging a video conference connecting people in different time zones, the courts have shown a willingness to schedule hearings to accommodate the unusual timings.
Major relief
The courts' readiness to use video-conferencing can be a major relief to overseas Indians in dealing with matrimonial cases filed in India. Aside from the problems of taking leave from work and travelling to India for frequent court appearances, many NRIs are wary of additional cases being filed against them while they are in India. A video conference can be a useful means of tackling the problem of non-appearance of overseas Indians in court cases.
In the case before the Chennai family court, neither of the parties was present during the hearing; they were in Australia and the US while the case was being heard in Chennai.
The couple, who are software professionals, had filed for divorce by mutual consent on grounds of incompatibility and differences of opinion while they were living in India. However, during the mandatory period of legal separation of six months, both of them had got jobs abroad; the wife moved to Australia and the husband relocated to the US.
Allowed
Hence they could not be present in court when the case came up for orders. Principal judge for family court R. Devadoss agreed to allow their presence in court through video-conferencing. The court directed two close relatives of the couple to be present in court to identify them for the proceedings.
The two parties gave a sworn statement and the whole proceedings were recorded in audio and video format.
technology
court ruling
The technology came into use in Indian courts after the Supreme Court held in 2003 that evidence could be recorded by video conference even in a criminal trial as long as the accused or at least his lawyer is present when the video conference is recorded.
Since then, several states including Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat and Bihar have introduced tele-justice. Over 40 jails in and around Mumbai are connected to district level courts through video-conferencing.
Video-conferencing has been used to record witness statements and the deposition of under-trials who are lodged in jails for it removes the need to bring the prisoner to the court, saving on the huge costs of taking those under trial to the courts.
- IANS
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