Bombay High Court: VC facility in jail should be used in exceptional cases

The Bombay High Court today said it was the Maharashtra government's prime duty to ensure the accused were produced in court for trial and that video conference facilities should be used only in exceptional cases. A division bench of Justices S C Dharmadhikari and Bharti Dangre was hearing a PIL filed by one Shaikh Abdul Naeem, an accused in the Aurangabad arms haul case, claiming that he was not being produced in court due to lack of escort police.

In December 2016, the high court had directed the state government's home department to ensure that all courts and jails in the state have video conference facility by March 2017. The state government today informed the court that the process was on. The bench then said that video conference was to be used only in exceptional cases.

"Your (government) prime duty is to ensure that the accused is produced before the trial court. This is what law says," the court said. The bench has now posted the petition for a further hearing on March 14.