Mangalore Court records statements from Riyadh via video conferencing

A district court in Mangalore became the first court in Karnataka to record the statement of the petitioner from Riyadh in Saudi Arabia through video conferencing facility in a civil dispute case.

Abdul Rahman, who is employed in Saudi Arabia, found to his chagrin that the land owned by him had been transferred to his brother Khalid Ahmed reportedly through forged documents.

He had moved the Second Additional Civil Court in Mangalore during 2001 seeking to annul the “release deed”, which he contended, was based on forged documents and signatures.

Rahman’s advocate P P Hegde moved a special application seeking exemption for his client from personal appearance and instead record his statements via video conferencing facility through Internet.

Overruling objections from the advocates representing the accused Khalid Ahmed, the Court passed an order to record the statements via video conferencing. The court had cited orders passed by the Karnataka High Court and Supreme Court on adopting video conferencing facility to record statements.

Though the Court did not have the infrastructure and communication facilities to record statements through video conferencing, arrangements were made to record Abdul Rahman’s statement through video conferencing facility at a private communication centre in Mangalore.

Abdul Rahman, sitting in a cyber centre in Riyadh in Saudi Arabia, gave his statement and answered queries raised by advocates representing his brother and the accused in the case Khalid Ahmed. The Court duly recorded Abdul Rahman’s statements delivered through video conferencing facility.

The recording of Abdul Rahman’s statements through video conferencing created a flutter with a large number of curious visitors and advocates packing the courtroom to watch the unconventional procedure.

Though a court in Mysore had adopted video conferencing to record the statement of a person based in the US a couple of months ago in a criminal case, the recording to Abdul Rahman’s statement is the first such instance in a civil dispute.