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Palash Halder is a resident of  Nandipara area in the capital. In his neighbourhood, a bakery had been making different types of sweetmeats, vermicelli and various fast-food items for a long time.

This bakery had 11 outlets in different areas in the capital to sale its food items. The persons concerned were warned several times against preparing the food items in an unhygienic environment. But they did not pay heed to it at all.

“Subsequently, I lodged a complaint against the factory with the e-Mobile Court. The court took the matter into cognizance. After making a spot visit, the court found that our allegation was true. Then the court sealed the factory and fined the owner,” said Palash Hawlader while talking to BSS on this issue recently. He expressed satisfaction as he got judicial services easily through e-Mobile Court.

Meanwhile, Bidhan Chandra Shil, a teacher at Maizkhar village of Chandina Upazila in Cumilla district, told BSS that the family members of one of his girl students had arranged marriage for this 15-year old adolescent.

"I tried to persuade the parents of the ninth grader not to marry off her at this early age and help her continue studies. But the guardians did not agree. The wedding ceremony could not be stopped as the locals, especially representatives of Union Parishad (UP) and others were managed somehow. The girl's parents started distributing the wedding invitation cards and I was a little bit disappointed,” he added.

Finding no other alternative, Bidhan Chandra said, he filed a complaint through the e-Mobile Court system. He got a positive response soon as an executive magistrate from the upazila administration took action by conducting the mobile court. As a result, the child marriage was stopped.

Expressing his satisfaction over the matter, the teacher said, "It has given us a clear idea that judicial service is now near at hand."

Through the e-mobile court system, executive magistrates can perform all the activities of the mobile court online and offline very easily and quickly, he observed.

In this system, cases can be filed, charges are framed, seizure lists are prepared, statements are taken and orders are issued. Currently, there are 7,809 users of the e-Mobile Court while over 2 lakh cases were settled through it.

The government’s a2i project is providing technical assistance in rendering information technology (IT) based services to the people at all levels ranging from urban to rural areas.

 The outcomes of ‘Digital Bangladesh’ are evident everywhere in the country. In continuation of this, the journey of establishing a transparent, accountable, innovative and pro-people judiciary and bridging the gap between the courts and the citizens has begun.

 At present, Judicial Batayan are active in 64 district courts, five session courts and eight tribunals throughout the country. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina inaugurated the My Government (MyGov) platform. Virtual Court System (MyCourt) started in 87 lower courts by making necessary additions, changes and modifications to various services of this platform, e-documents and service initiatives.

The service, designed for the country's judiciary, is equipped with a secure video conferencing system to conduct immediate hearings. So far, over 26 thousand bail petitions have been received while more than 16 thousand bail hearing dates fixed and over 11,000 virtual hearings completed. About 9,000 lawyers were registered with the platform.

Talking to the BSS, Cumilla District Bar Association president Advocate Shariful Islam said it was surprising to him that judicial services have been ensured for the people through a secure video conferencing system through information technology (IT).  "Now this is the reality," he added.

Even amid the COVID-19 pandemic, justice has been ensured for the litigants in many ways as the virtual judicial activities are being carried out without physical presence.

 Due to the pandemic, many things have come to a standstill except the emergency services. But the judicial process in the higher and lower courts of the country has not stopped. Courts are running in a virtual manner with the blessing of IT. Judges and lawyers are taking part in handling the cases through video conferencing. As a result, social and physical distance is being maintained. There is no risk of being infected with coronavirus.

The government led by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has been working tirelessly for the last 12 years to implement "Vision 2021" or "Digital Bangladesh".

 “Digital Bangladesh” has already touched the cities and villages. Now citizens across the country can receive services even in remote areas. In addition, they are getting IT-friendly services very easily in less time and at less cost.

The government has been taking various initiatives as part of these activities with the aim of building “Digital Bangladesh”. The Aspire to Innovate- a2i programme is being implemented by the Cabinet Division and the Department of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) with the support of UNDP. The a2i is initiating various activities with the Ministry of Information and its subordinate offices on the basis of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to inform the citizens across the country about these initiatives.

To ensure the rule of law in the country, the Judicial Information Batayan is running with the information of the judiciary including the higher and lower courts. The initiative is aimed at establishing a transparent, accountable and people-oriented judiciary, and bridging the gap between the courts and the citizens.

 If someone is in danger, if he or she opens the app and shake the mobile phone, the phone will go directly to 999 numbers.  At the same time, users can call 333 to get various information and services. Necessary information can be used to know the application, submission of documents, payment of application fee and post-application update. The identity of the applicant will be confirmed with the help of the national identity (NID) card.

 The platform currently has opened 450 services to the public. About 1,056 services were digitized under Rapid Digitization on that platform.

 The day is not far away when Bangladesh would emerge as a digital state, one step ahead of the developing country status, and we would be the citizens of that proud state.