A first,HC makes use of video conferencing

Apart from Justice Hemant Gupta and Justice Rajiv Narain Raina,Krishna a midwife who is also key witness in the case who had turned hostile,was also present during the first ever such video conferencing.

The judges attended the video conference in the High Court museum and cross examined the appellant,Madan Lal,currently housed at Gurdaspur Central Jail,for over an hour. The judges opted to go for video conference as the witness,Krishna,had finally appeared in the court after repeated summons. To ensure that there was no further delay,the court on July 23 had deferred the hearing of the case to Tuesday and made special arrangement for the stay of the witness.

Krishna was directed to be lodged in Punjab state guest house in Sector 3,Chandigarh,“at the state expense including boarding and lodging”. Also,the court on Monday had directed that the Superintendent,Central Jail,Gurdaspur “shall cause appearance of the appellants for recording of evidence through video conferencing at 1:30 pm in the District NIC video conferencing room”.

As the case came up for hearing on Tuesday,the judges went to the High Court museum where the equipment for video conferencing was installed. The development took place during the resumed hearing of an appeal filed by Madan Lal who was held guilty of throwing his one-day-old female child into the river.

The District and Sessions Judge (DSJ),Gurdaspur on September 11,2007 had held Madan Lal guilty of murder and awarded life imprisonment to him. His co-accused were also sentenced to varying terms. Madan Lal had moved the High Court challenging this judgment.

The prosecution in support of allegations against the appellants had examined Krishna,,who is said to have assisted the delivery of the female child to Sonia,wife of Madan Lal,on the mid night of March 31,2006 at Pathankot. Her statement was recorded by a lower court judge.

However,when she stepped into the witness box,she was declared hostile. The public prosecutor after obtaining permission from the court,confronted Krishna with her previous statement recorded by the Police before the magistrate.

When the appeal,filed by Madan Lal,came before High Court,the mid wife was also summoned. She reiterated,during the video conferencing,today that she was forced to depose against Madan Lal. The case will now come up for resumed hearing after two weeks.