Date:03/06/2006 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2006/06/03/stories/2006060310800500.htm

Karnataka - Bangalore

Videoconferencing for Telgi trial to cost Rs. 180 a minute

B.S. Ramesh

The facility has helped speed up proceedings in court

Telgi, who is a Pune jail, is to be produced before the Special Court in Bangalore
Videoconferencing costs Rs. 30 a minute if one STD line is used
Six lines are needed as the other accused are lodged in jails in various places

Once the trial begins, videoconferencing will be used for five hours a day

Abdul Kareem Telgi

BANGALORE: The cost of conducting the trial of Abdul Kareem Lala, prime accused in the stamp paper racket, through videoconferencing is likely to go up substantially as the authorities have decided to install a six-way facility.

The authorities feel they need a minimum of six additional lines for videoconferencing as the other accused in the fake stamp paper and embossing racket are lodged in jails in Chandigarh, Pune, Chennai, Delhi and Hyderabad, besides Bangalore.

Telgi is being produced from the Yerwada jail in Pune, where he is lodged, before the Special Court in Parappana Agrahara, which is hearing several cases against him, through a single-line facility.

Videoconferencing has speeded up the trial of cases and reduced the burden on the armed police, which bring the accused to the court. The fee for the video link between Pune and Bangalore is Rs. 30 a minute if a single STD line is used. During the last videoconferencing, the court procedure cost nearly Rs. 1,800.

Legal experts say it is mandatory during a criminal trial to produce the accused before the court. However, Telgi has to be presented through videoconferencing as cases have been registered against him in other States.

Sources say the expenditure on videoconferencing will go up once the trial in the Madivala and other cases commences as a six-way facility is needed. Costly equipment, including hi-tech telecom gadgets, has been brought to Bangalore and is likely to be installed soon.

Once the trial commences, videoconferencing is likely to go on for at least five hours a day. If all six lines are used, the cost per minute will be Rs. 180.

This is not much compared with the cost of physically producing the accused from jails before the Special Court in Bangalore. Sources in the Central Bureau of Investigation say it is a better option to produce the accused before the court through videoconferencing. If Telgi is brought from Pune to Bangalore, police personnel will have to accompany him and he will have to be provided round-the-clock security, they add.