Delhi government proposes virtual court appearance for those under trial

The government’s home department has recently sent a proposal in this regard to the Centre through the lieutenant governor’s office, and is awaiting approval

The Delhi government is looking to replace the practice of taking undertrial prisoners to courts with video conferencing from prisons in order to minimise security risks, wastage of security manpower, and cost of logistics involved in their transportation, officials familiar with the matter said on Wednesday.

The move comes in the wake of killing of undertrial criminals amid tight security — in 2021, two gunmen dressed as lawyers entered Delhi’s Rohini court and opened fire, killing the Capital’s most wanted gangster Jitender Gogi; (above) an ambulance at Rohini district court after Jitender Gogi was shot. (HT Archive)

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The government’s home department has recently sent a proposal in this regard to the Centre through the lieutenant governor’s office, and is awaiting approval, the officials said.

While officials said that there may be some exceptions in the proposal, they said that the move will help in curbing the “negative impact” that criminals have on the people when they are photographed by mediapersons before their production in courts.

The move comes in the wake of killing of undertrial criminals amid tight security — in 2021, two gunmen dressed as lawyers entered Delhi’s Rohini court and opened fire, killing the Capital’s most wanted gangster Jitender Gogi; in 2015 two prisoners, Paras alias Goldy, and his associate Pradeep — both members of the Neetu Dabodia gang— were strangled and beaten to death by gangster Neeraj Bawana and six of his men on the way back from Rohini court to Tihar Jail.

A similar system is already under implementation in Jharkhand since July 2019.

“Barring instances when witnesses are required to identify the accused, the production of undertrials can be done through video conferencing,” officials in the Delhi government said.

At present, most of the undertrials are physically produced in courts, while matters pertaining to judicial remand extension are usually heard through video conferencing, one of the government officials said. (

“During the production of some undertrial prisoners, especially gangsters, they get snapped and the pictures are sometimes shared on social media which may cast a negative impact on many people. Keeping the gangsters away from the public view may help curb their influence,” said the official.

Delhi has three jail complexes – Tihar, Mandoli and Rohini – which have a combined accommodation capacity of more than 10,000 prisoners.

A second government official said that among the undertrial prisoners in the three jails, many are top gangsters who carry high security risks and their transportation involves elaborate security planning, which usually involves coordination with multiple police officers.

“Apart from the gangsters, Tihar also usually has high profile undertrials whose transportation involves higher security details as well as law and order arrangements,” said the official.

The Tihar prison complex, one of the largest in the world, has nearly double the number of inmates of its capacity. The prison complexes in Mandoli and Rohini are smaller than that of Tihar Jail, according to government officials. Mandoli Jail can accommodate 3,776 inmates, while Rohini Jail complex has a capacity of housing 1,050 inmates.

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The LG’s office did not respond to HT’s queries on the proposal by the Delhi government

In Jharkhand, the video conferencing system for production of undertrials works across 28 courts and jails. Called the e-trial project, it was implemented with the objective to eliminate security risks associated with transportation of the undertrials in judicial custody and cost reduction in production of the accused, according to Jharkhand government documents seen by HT.