Burail jailbreak case: Next hearing through video-conferencing

It was a year back that the Punjab and Haryana High Court had told the UT Administration to provide video-conferencing facility between the Chandigarh District Court Complex and Model Jail,Burail,and Tihar Jail,Delhi.

In their application before the CJM court on Monday,the Tihar Jail authorities stated that the mastermind of the Burail jailbreak case,Jagtar Singh Hawara,could not be produced in the court because of security reasons. The authorities requested the court to allow video-conferencing in the case.

According to court officials,after the CJM passed the orders allowing the application,all the arrangements for connecting the District Court Complex in Chandigarh and the Tihar Jail are being made.

“Tihar jail already has a video-conferencing facility. The connectivity of two courts had been delayed from our end. If wanted,yesterday’s hearing in jailbreak case and the hearing which took place on January 4 could have been made possible through video-conferencing,” said one of the officials of the District Court.

To bring the two accused,mastermind Jagtar Singh Hawara and his accomplice Paramjit Singh Bheora,from Delhi to Chandigarh,several lakhs have been spent on their security.

Hearing of the jailbreak case had been a cause for major inconvenience to normal functioning of the court for the past two years. The entry of vehicles to the court complex had to be blocked till the duo,Jagtar Singh Hawara and Paramjit Singh Bheora,were produced in the court. Police officials in hundreds of both Delhi Police and Chandigarh Police were deputed to ensure the security of the two accused.