Mohammad Ikbal Hasan1* and Fahmida Johura Rupa2
1&2Department of Law, University of Information Technology and Sciences (UITS), Dhaka, Bangladesh.
*Correspondence: ikbalhbd@gmail.com (Mohammad Ikbal Hasan, Assistant Professor, Department of Law, UITS, Dhaka, Bangladesh).
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ABSTRACT
The vision of ‘Digital Bangladesh’ as articulated by the present government of Bangladesh is inseparably related to establishing the delivery of justice to the citizens through maximum use of technology. Judiciary, being the one of three main organs of the government, is the key governance and rule of law institution. Independence of Judiciary is ensured in the Constitution of Bangladesh to ensure access to justice for all. Information and communication technologies (ICTs) are today considered to be an indispensable tool for both case management and efficient delivery of judicial services. Much like other developing and transitional countries, the judicial system in Bangladesh faces the same constraints and bottlenecks. More than 3 million pending cases have created a high backlog in the judiciary. Consequently, the cases take an inordinately long time to reach their logical end and litigation costs keep on mounting. The vulnerable and marginalized sections of society suffer the most. Perhaps the biggest challenge for the judiciary in the country is to reduce the delay in the court process and remove the backlog of cases. The pragmatic step to E-judiciary is inevitable to integrate the existing efforts and to digitalize the judiciary of Bangladesh aiming at reducing citizens’ time, cost, and hassle to access judicial services and to make the system more efficient and transparent. E-judiciary, a whole tech-based judicial system, may bring a radical change in the field of the administration of justice. This paper identifies the nexus between access to justice and digitalization, analyzes the current pattern of administration of justice, and upholds the loopholes of the traditional justice delivery system and core necessity of E-judiciary. Finally, it concludes with challenges and a way out for a digitalized judiciary to accelerate access to justice for mass people.
Keywords: Administration of Justice, Digitalization, Backlog, Judiciary, E-court, Records, and Court process.
Citation: Hasan MI, and Rupa FJ. (2021). Digitalization of Bangladesh judiciary and access to justice, Asian J. Soc. Sci. Leg. Stud., 3(3), 49-58. https://doi.org/10.34104/ajssls.021.049058
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