Virtual Courts: Lets Espy Future of Judiciary
Amity law school, Amity University, Noida, India
Dr. Bhavna Batra
Asst. Professor, Amity law school, Amity University, Noida, India
Volume II – Issue I, 2020
This pandemic has changed a lot of things including our perspective of dealing with things, given us a lot of opportunities to discover our working sphere and increase our reach in terms of technology and judicial system. A virtual courtroom is one which need not exist physically but electronically. Using technology, a courtroom can be constituted without demanding parties to devote a prosperity on additional support. Outside information is accumulated, organized and brought into the courtroom for presentation. Once presented, various interpretational theories are argued to the fact finder who then evaluates the data according to settled rules (determined by the Judge through research, analysis and interpretation) and determines a verdict. That verdict, often with collateral concerns is then transmitted throughout the legal system as necessary. The courtroom is thus the epitome of a complex system of information exchange and management. Ultimately, because lawyers and judges deal endlessly with ‘data’, technology courtrooms exist and virtual courts are possible. We are living in a technological era, which is increasingly reliant on computers and related information technology. The legal system is evolving but most of the nation’s lawyers, judges, legal administrators, and support personnel are still facing hindrances in adopting this virtual facet of the justice. We are on the path to the virtual courtroom. The virtual courtroom is unlikely to replace our traditional courts and tribunals in the near future, but even those traditional places of law and judgment will see increasing amounts of virtual evidence and adjudication but one thing is very much possible and that is proportionate amount of both physical court and virtual court can exist simultaneously. However, nothing could ever replace the real essence of litigation which is through physical presence of the litigants and judicial officers in the courtroom.