Enhancing Access to Justice Through E-Judiciary in Bangladesh
A Study
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.32890/uumjls2022.13.2.13Keywords:
Access to Justice, case management, e-judiciary, information and communication technologiesAbstract
E-judiciary, meaning application of information and communication technologies (ICTs), in justice delivery mechanism is a global phenomenon as inordinate delay in settling disputes resulting in backlogs of cases is one of the common problems in access to justice in almost every judicial system. In Bangladesh, the backlog of cases has become a huge problem, creating a bottleneck in access to justice. Globally, case management is considered an approach appropriate to resolve the problem of delayed justice. Its attraction and utility lie in the ability of the mechanism to provide predictability in the administration of justice. ICTs are now regarded as essential tools for effective case management in addition to delivery of judicial services in an efficient manner. Realising its value as well as benefits, the judiciary of other countries like Australia, Malaysia, and India is using ICTs for reducing the backlog of cases and delivery of justice in an effective way. The countries have already modified their laws as such. To solve Bangladesh’s problem of delayed justice, a project for introducing ICTs in the judiciary has been launched by the Supreme Court of Bangladesh to facilitate prompt and efficient delivery of justice as well as necessary information to the litigants and the public. Hence, this article seeks to highlight the implications of ICTs in the justice delivery mechanism in Bangladesh. This study adopts the qualitative approach of research where primary and secondary data have been gathered from various statutes as well as existing literature. To underline the role of ICTs in making justice accessible, experiences of Australia, Malaysia and India have been shared in this paper. The paper finds that the application of ICTs in the judiciary can make a substantial impact in enhancing access to justice by reducing the backlog of cases. Therefore, the paper recommends that for ensuring access to justice, the application of ICTs in the justice delivery mechanism should be enhanced in Bangladesh.
References
Akram, M. S. (2017). A Critical Analysis of Access to Justice in Bangladesh. International Journal of Humanities and Social Science Invention, 6(8), 50-58.
Alam, M. S. (2000, April 16). A Possible way out of Backlog in our judiciary. The Daily Star.
Alam, M. S. (2001). Alternative Dispute Resolution by early judicial intervention: A possible way out of delay and backlog in our judiciary. Manual for clinical legal education, Dhaka.
Anderson IV, R., Borgersen, E., Brest, P., & Fenwick, W. (1992). The impact of information technology on judicial administration: A research agenda for the future. S. Cal. L. Rev., 66, 1761.
Anwar, I. (2015, November 10). Digitalisation of Courts. The Daily Star.
Babulal, V. (2016). Malaysia’s first cyber court begins operations today. News Straits Times, 1 September.
Barton, B. H., & Bibas, S. (2017). Rebooting Justice: More technology, fewer lawyers, and the future of law. Encounter Books.
Baxi, P. (2008). Access to Justice and Rule-of (Good) Law: The cunning of judicial reform in India. Indian Journal of Human Development, 2(2), 279-302.
Begum, N., & Saha, N. K. (2017). Women’s access to justice in Bangladesh. Journal of Malaysian and Comparative Law, 44(2), 41.
Beqiraj, J., & McNamara, L. (2014). International access to justice: Barriers and solutions. London: Bingham Centre for the Rule of Law.
Bhardwaj, R. K. (2013). The Indian judicial system: Transition from print to digital. Legal Information Management, 13(3) 205.
Cabral, J. E., Chavan, A., Clarke, T. M., & Greacen, J. (2012). Using technology to enhance access to justice. Harv. JL & Tech., 26, 241.
Cashman, P., & Ginnivan, E. (2019). Digital justice: online resolution of minor civil disputes and the use of digital technology in complex litigation and class actions. Macquarie LJ, 19, 39.
Chattaraj, A. (2011). Justice delayed-justice denied-the right to speedy trial in India. SSRN Electronic Journal, 1. https://papers.ssrn. com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1919493
Cranston, R., & de Mendonca, M. L. V. P. (1997). Access to justice in South and South-east Asia. In Good Government and Law (pp. 233-257). Palgrave Macmillan, London.
Diyana P, (2021). AI sentencing guideline to be implemented this month in the peninsula, The Star Online. https://www.thestar. com.my/news/nation/2021/07/22/ai-sentencing-guideline-to-be-implemented-this-month-in-the-peninsula
Donoghue, J. (2017). The rise of digital justice: Courtroom technology, public participation and access to justice. The Modern Law Review, 80(6), 995-1025.
Faruque, A. A. (2006). Promoting access to justice through judicial mediation: The Bangladesh experience. Commonwealth Legal Education Conference.
Francioni, F. (2007). The rights of access to justice under customary international law. In F. Francioni (Eds.), Access to Justice as a Human Right (pp. 1-55). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Forell, S., Laufer, M., & Digiusto, E. (2011). Legal assistance by video conferencing: What is known? Justice Issues, 15, 1-23.
Gloppen, S. (2006). Courts and social transformation: An analytical framework. In Gargarella, R., Domingo, P. and Roux, T. (Eds.), Courts and Social Transformation in New Democracies: an institutional voice for the poor? (pp.35-59). Ashgate Publishing Ltd.
Hamin, Z., Othman, M. B., & Mohamad, A. M. (2012, June). Benefits and achievements of ICT adoption by the high courts of Malaysia. In 2012 IEEE Symposium on Humanities, Science and Engineering Research (pp. 1233-1238). IEEE.
Hasan, M. I., & Rupa, F. J. (2021). Digitalization of Bangladesh judiciary and access to justice. Asian Journal of Social Sciences and Legal Studies, 3(3), 49-58.
Hasan, M. I., & Mia, B. (2021). Initiation of virtual court system during COVID-19 Pandemic and E-judiciary: Challenges and way forward. Daengku: Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences Innovation, 1(1), 8-17.
Hassan, K. H., & Mokhtar, M. F. (2011). The e-court system in Malaysia. In Proceedings of 2nd International Conference on Education and Management Technology, Singapore.
Huda, T. (2020, May 21). Virtual courts and the future of justice. The Daily Star.
Iyer, V. R. K. (1989). Law, lawyers and justice. Delhi: B.R. Publishing Corporation.
James Allsop AO, J. (2019). Technology and the future of the courts. University of Queensland Law Journal, 38(1), 4-5.
Johnson, M. T., & Wiggins, E. C. (2006). Videoconferencing in criminal proceedings: Legal and empirical issues and directions for research. Law & Policy, 28(2), 211-227.
Juvekar, D. (2020, January 17). Can e-courts help speeding up justice delivery? Business Today.
Kabir, S. F. (2016, April 28). Delayed justice: How long is too long? The Daily Star.
Khan, A. R. (2020, February 12). How can technology revive judicial independence in Bangladesh? The Daily Star.
Khanna, A. D., & Sonu, D. (2017). Development of e-courts in India. International Journal of Legal Research and Studies, 2(3), 77.
Kirby, M. (1998). The future of courts - Do they have one? Journal of Law, Information and Science, 9 (2), 143.
Koshy, S. 2009. Zaki launches e-court system. The Star Online. https://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2009/09/02/zaki-launches-ecourt-system
Macdonald, R., & Wallace, A. (2004). Review of the extent of courtroom technology in Australia. William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal, 12(3), 649.
MacDonald, R. M., Burdon, M., & Jackson, S. M. (2006). Ensuring the integrity of the e-court process. In Justice Environments Conference 2006 (pp. 1-12).
Mashraf, A. (2020, May 28). To ensure effective operation of virtual courts. The Daily Star.
Mohamed, D. (2011). Electronic court system (E-Court): Development and implementation in the Malaysian courts and other jurisdictions. The Law Review, 476-489.
Mishra, S., & Chowdhury, A. M. (2021, August 17). Virtual court system in Bangladesh. The Daily Star.
Miwil, O. (2020, February 15). Sabah court to make history on Wednesday by using AI in sentencing. New Straits Times.
Mohamad, A. M., Hamin, Z., MZ, M. N., Kamaruddin, S., & Radzi, N. M. (2020). The implications of audio/video conference systems on the administration of justice at the Malaysian courts. Webology, 17(2), 904-921.
Muralidhar, S. (2004). Law, poverty and legal aid: Access to criminal justice (Vol. 234). LexisNexis Butterworth.
Murshed, M. M. (2020, May 18). Virtual courts in Bangladesh: Prospects and challenges. The Daily Star.
Pai, A. (2018). Evaluation of Indian e-judiciary system. International Journal of Research and Analytical Reviews, 5(3), 392.
Potter, S., Farrelly, P., & Begg, D. (2009). The e-court roadmap: Innovation and Integration an Australian case study. In Martinez, A. C. and Abat, P. F. (Eds.), E-Justice: Using Information Communication Technologies in the Court System (pp. 165-185). IGI Global.
Prakash, R., Mohanty, T., Gupta, R., & Jain, V. (2011). ICT in Indian court challenges & solution. International Journal of Internet Computing, ISSN, (2231-6965).
Rice, S. (2011). Access to a lawyer in rural Australia: Thoughts on the evidence we need. Deakin L. Rev., 16, 13.
Saman, W. S. W. M. (2014). Technology implementation and institutionalisation: A case of Malaysian courts (Doctoral dissertation, University of South Australia).
Saman, W. S. W. M., & Haider, A. (2012). Electronic court records management: A case study. Journal of e-Government Studies and Best Practices, 5, 1-11.
Saman, W. S. W. M., & Haider, A. (2013). E-court: Technology diffusion in court management. In the Proceedings of the Nineteenth Americas Conference on Information Systems. Chicago, Illinois.
Schetzer, L., Mullins, J., & Buanamano, R. (2002). Access to justice and legal needs. New South Wales: Law and Justice Foundation.
Shikhelman, V. (2018). Access to justice in the United Nations human rights committee. Mich. J. Int’l L., 39, 453.
Shamim, M. U. (2016, December 22). Justice delayed. Dhaka Tribune.
Sharmin, S. (2013). Women’s access to justice in Bangladesh: Obstacles and remedial measures. The Chittagong University Journal of Law, 18, 79-104.
Shah, K. P. & Gupata, M. (2017). Role of information technology in expediting the process of justice: An assessment of current challenges and future goals. International Journal of Multidisciplinary Educational Research, 6(5), 167.
Singh, M., Sahu, G. P., Dwivedi, Y., Rana, N., & Tamilmani, K. (2018). Success factors for e-court implementation at Allahabad High-Court. In the Proceedings of Pacific Asia Conference on Information System (PACIS), 137.
Size, R. (2017). Taking advantage of advances in technology to enhance the rule of law. Australian Law Journal, 91(7), 575-587.
Syeed, M. A. (2017, January 6). Justice Going Digital. Dhaka Tribune.
Tahura, U. S. (2015, January 6). Case management system to reduce case backlog. The Daily Star.
Tariq, Q. (2020). New online payment service allows bail to be paid in 30 minutes. The Star Online. https://www.thestar.com.my/tech/ tech-news/2020/02/21/new-ejamin-service-allows-bail-to-be-paid-in-30-minutes.
Velicogna, M. (2007). Justice systems and ICT-What can be learned from Europe. Utrecht L. Rev., 3, 129.
Wallace, A. (2009). E-Justice: An Australian perspective. In Martinez, A. C., & Abat, P. F. (Eds.), E-Justice: Using Information Communication Technologies in the Court System (pp. 204-228). IGI Global.
Zain, N. A. M., Saman, W. S. W. M., Yatin, S. F. M., Rahman, A., Ahmad, N. S., Mokhtar, W. N. H. W., & Ramlee, N. N. E. N. (2018). Developing legal framework for e-court in judicial delivery. International Journal of Engineering & Technology, 7(3.7), 202-205.
Published
Issue
Section
How to Cite
Research impact
Harvested 2026-09-07Counts differ between services because each indexes a different body of literature. None of them is the whole picture.
