As India’s courts went virtual, lack of technology in jails became a major hurdle to justice
About 40% of prisons had no video conferencing facilities, a new report says. Representational image. | Sam Panthaky / AFP
Only 60% of India’s jails had video conferencing facilities just before the Covid-19 pandemic struck, finds a report released by
Tata Trusts. Less than half of all states and Union Territories had these facilities in 90% of their jails.
As in many countries, India’s Supreme Court
directed in April 2020 that court proceedings be conducted via
video-conferencing to minimise physical appearances and enable social distancing. However, India’s justice systems were not fully equipped to deal with the emergency, the
Maharashtra Tops On Justice Delivery, Women Constitute Only 29% Of Judges In India: The India Justice Report 2020 livelaw.in - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from livelaw.in Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
In 2016, the Supreme Court had ruled that access to justice is a fundamental right. But the universality of justice does not necessarily translate to its even dispensation. This inference can be drawn from the findings of the
India Justice Report 2020, a comprehensive study of the prevalent nature and reach of the legal system. The report’s examination of seven small and 18 major states has not yielded heartening results. Not even the best-performing states Maharashtra tops the list while Telangana has climbed eight spots to the third place scored above 60 per cent in terms of justice delivery across four crucial institutions the police, the judiciary, prisons and legal aid that were assessed on parameters such as human resources, budgets, personnel workload, infrastructure and representation. That glaring lacunae in these critical spheres exist even in the best-performing state indicates the challenges that confront India’s justice delivery mechanism.
Chhattisgarh Police ranked second in the country in India Justice Report naidunia.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from naidunia.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Odisha has improved its rank in policing by securing the third place among 18 states in the country, according to the India Justice Report 2020 released on Thursday.