Lower courts will hear only bail pleas remotely in coronavirus crisis

The lower courts will hear only bail petitions remotely by using information technology to avoid the risk of coronavirus infection.

Chief Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain issued directives on conducting court proceedings via video conferencing and other digital media on Sunday.

He formed three High Court benches that will hear urgent writ petitions, civil and criminal lawsuits, bail appeals, and some other cases.

The directives, published by Supreme Court Registrar General Md Ali Akbar, did not however say when the hearings may start.

According to the current law, the plaintiffs, defendants and their legal counsels must attend the court proceedings physically to run a trial.

But like many other countries, Bangladesh has enforced a lockdown since Mar 26 closing all government and private offices, courts and banning mass gatherings.

The Supreme Court later asked the government to introduce information technology to conduct proceedings.

On Saturday, the government through an ordinance gave the courts powers to use information technology for the virtual presence of the parties in trial, inquiry, hearing, testimony, argument, order and judgment, irrespective of what other criminal and civil laws state.

The other rules of court proceedings will remain unchanged.

Virtual presence will mean the presence of a party through audio, video or any other digital media.

THE DIRECTIVES

Justice Obaidul Hassan will hear urgent writ petitions and civil lawsuits while

Justice Jahangir Hossain will hear all criminal lawsuits and bail appeals.

Justice Md Khurshid Alam Sarkar has been given the responsibility to hear urgent civil cases such as property, marriage and company matters.

Justice Md Nuruzzaman will work as the chamber judge and he will hear pleas from 11am on May 14 and 20.

The lawyers will have to explain the urgency of virtual hearing in the applications emailed to the related court.

Once the appeal is accepted for hearing, the lawyer will be notified via SMS and email. The court associate will post the case on the cause list by adding the prefix “VC” or Video Conferencing Case No. to the case number.

For bail hearings in lower courts, the lawyers will be given Zoom, Google Meet or Microsoft Teams links for video conferencing.

Law Minister Anisul Huq described the ordinance on the use of IT in court proceedings as a “new chapter”.

It will be possible to continue proceedings in all the courts following the ordinance in future, he said.

“Prime Minister Sheikh Hasian took the initiative to transform Bangladesh into a Digital Bangladesh in 1996. The objective of the initiative was to digitalise all offices. An initiative to launch e-judiciary was also taken and it was under development,” Huq said in a video message.