State Minister for Information and Communication Technology Zunaid Ahmed Palak has announced plans to make the country’s judicial system completely paperless within the next two years. He said, “How can we bring the entire judicial system of Bangladesh into the hands of the people in less time and cost, relying on technology?” I have adopted my e-Judiciary project so that judges and lawyers can work. Under this, we have finalized a project worth Tk. 2,224 crore. It will be sent to the Ministry of Planning in a very short time. Through this we will digitize about 2000 courtrooms. There will be an audio recording pool system. There will be virtual terminals as well. 14 Central Jails will be digitized. Camera trial rooms will be set up in 64 district jails, including nine central jails, so that the accused can participate in the hearing from jail. Meetings will be used for security reasons. A four-tier datacenter will be set up in the Supreme Court under the JRP to ensure the sovereignty of judicial information.
The state minister made the remarks at the inaugural function of Online Cause List, Judicial Monitoring Dashboard and MyCourt app at a hotel in the capital on Saturday.
Zunaid Ahmed Palak inaugurated the three online systems on behalf of Law Minister Anisul Haque at a function organized by the Department of Law and Justice and UNDP Bangladesh with the technical assistance of a2i.
In an earlier statement, he said, “We will provide 2,000 laptops to judges, desktops for office staff and 75,000 training to lawyers and judges to ensure digital justice system.” In addition, a cyber cafe will be set up in each bar association with a video conferencing system.
Highlighting the importance of three issues in building a digital ecosystem, Palak said that under the leadership of ICT Advisor, Architect of Digital Bangladesh Sajeeb Wazed Joy, it has been possible to create verifiable IDs, transaction platforms and interoperable platforms for the last 13 years. As a result, we have been able to keep all the online and offline activities active by pairing them during the Covid-19 pandemic. It was made possible to introduce virtual court in just two months.
In his speech, the Minister of State for ICT announced to ensure maximum utilization of technology in the Department of Justice and Health in this financial year after the construction of these infrastructures by a2i, UNDP and ICT Department. We do not imitate any country; our a2i, Bangladesh Computer Council, Supreme Court, Legislative Ministry, we are all developing a model of our own. Hopefully we can give a new model to the whole world at a low cost.
Presenting a PowerPoint presentation on the occasion, a2i Policy Adviser Anir Chowdhury said, “My court mobile app has been launched to take the judicial process of Bangladesh forward through digitalization. Through this app, the general justice-seekers will be able to know the latest information of his case, latest order, next date and status of the case etc. In addition, through the Cause List and Dash Board, the court authorities will be able to collect, display and store all kinds of data related to pending and disposed cases, as a monitoring and tracking system to know the actual status of courts, speed of judicial proceedings and various judicial statistics. Already 36 judges have been trained in 8 districts under this project. In addition to the Union Digital Center, arrangements will be made to get judicial information by calling 333 so that all citizens can come under it.
Mr. Sudipta Mukherjee, Resident Representative of UNDP Bangladesh gave a welcome address at the function presided over by Mr. Golam Sarwar, Secretary, Department of Law and Justice. Trained Brahmanbaria District and Sessions Judge Begum Sharmin Nigar highlighted the benefits of the pilot program.
It may be noted that, Online Cause List (case schedule), Judicial Monitoring Dashboard and My Court (MyCourt) mobile app have been launched to take the judicial process of Bangladesh forward through digitization. The list of cases pending in the court on a particular working day will be available to the public or anyone involved in the trial by visiting the causelist.judiciary.org.bd website and the My Court (MyCourt) mobile app. Candidates will be able to know the latest order of their case, next date and status of the case by selecting the name of the concerned department, then the district and the latest concerned court on the website.
All types of data related to cases pending and disposed of in lower courts will be collected, displayed and stored through Judicial Monitoring Dashboard or Judicial Dashboard. As a monitoring and tracking system of the lower courts, the actual status of the courts, the nature of the proceedings and various judicial statistics can be known through it.
People from all walks of life, including Judgment seekers, judges and lawyers will be able to use the My Court mobile app for their own needs. The app allows users to access all digital services designed for the lower court. Judges, lawyers and the public can use the various features of this app individually. Anyone can download this app by searching My Court (MyCourt) from Google Play Store.
The inaugural function was attended by senior officials of the Department of Law and Justice, Department of Information and Communication Technology, UNDP Bangladesh, a2i, judges and media personnel among others.