First e-court under federal law ministry becomes operational in Rawalpindi

To ensure the provision of speedy and inexpensive justice to the people, an accountability court under the federal government has introduced a novel e-court system. The first of its kind, an e-court started functioning in Rawalpindi on Wednesday. Two prosecution witnesses involved in a corruption case recorded their statements via Skype in the court from two distant places.

A 40 inch LED screen has been mounted inside the hearing room for the recording of statement and the facility of fast internet has also been provided to ensure seamless connectivity between the distant stations. Cases with special needs will be heard from within the country as well as from outside the country.

The people, unable to attend the proceedings of the court for specific reasons under the consent of Judge will get benefit from the establishment of e-courts.

The accountability courts’ acting Registrar Mr. Muhammad Salman Ashraf said that the e-court technique was being used for the first time working under the federal law ministry across the country although there have been some cases where courts in Pakistan had used video teleconferencing facility to aid the recording of statements.

The e-court was inaugurated by Special Judge Accountability Court-III Sohail Nasir who listened to the two witnesses, National Accountability Bureau (NAB) official Shoaib Mahmood from Sukkur and Security and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) Registrar Shaukat Hussain from Islamabad.

As much as 37 complaints were registered against two criminals for looting innocent people. There company named as Islamic Investment Company looted Rs 32.49 million from the people under the Modarba Case. The court imposed ‘Fard-e-Jurm’ against the two accused.