Initiatives on to upgrade judicial capacity, courts

Multiple initiatives have been taken to upgrade capacity of the judiciary, especially in handling cyber crime cases, officials said on Saturday.
The government is investing billions of taka to develop the capacity of the judges.
Law ministry officials said they have already sent more than 500 judges ro Australia for getting training in order to improve their capacity up to international standard.
Besides, the ministry is investing funds to develop adequate facilities in courts across the country for environmental upgradation, they said.
Nearly 540 judges will get training to improve their capacity to deal with offences like cyber and maritime crimes, law ministry joint secretary Bikash Kumar Saha said.
"We've taken three projects to upgrade infrastructure of judicial courts and improve capacity of the judges in lower courts," he told the FE.
The judges are taking two to 12 weeks' training under a Tk 399.7-million capacity-building scheme, said Mr Saha who is also chief coordinator of the projects.
"The project aims to help our judges familiar with international judicial system and also with new non-boundary cyber and maritime crimes," he added.
"Since Bangladesh is facing a severe problem with cyber and some other non-boundary crimes, judges' training in Australia will help them tackle such cases."
Mr Saha said they have plans to train more judges in the international arena so they could handle such non-boundary crimes in the future.
"Some international trainers, including law professors, police officers and judges of Australia are training our judges in different batches."
Mr Saha said new courts will have child and women care facilities, and legal aid offices to establish a safe environment for mothers and poor victims.
The ministry is building 64 chief judicial magistrate (CJM) courts, each having eight to 12 storeys, in all districts at Tk 23.89 billion.
New infrastructure will help remove the backlog of pending cases in districts, another official said.
"Some district courts don't have adequate space for judges. Sometimes two to three judges have to share the same room to proceed with their respective cases."
"It hampers judgment of adequate cases daily. So, thousands of cases are pending across the country for years," the official added.
New court buildings will accommodate judges and facilitate legal activity resulting in the speedy disposal of pending cases, he continued.
Law ministry is also building a 12-storey courthouse with all amenities at the Supreme Court at Tk 1.38 billion to improve the apex court's judicial system.

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