Keralas first trial via video held

KOCHI: The Bangalore Magistrate Court on Thursday conducted trial proceedings of the Bangalore serial bomb blast case with the 11 accused lodged at the Ernakulam sub-jail via video-conferencing.The Bangalore court had earlier conducted similar video-conferencing with the accused in the Gujarat blasts case. But, it is for the first time, video conferencing was held with the accused jailed in Kerala.Abdul Jaleel, M H Faisal, Thadiyantavide Nazir, P Mujeeb, Shafas, Ibrahim Moulavi, Badaruddin, Abdul Jabbar, Sabir Buhari, Umar Farooq and Sarfraz Navas have been identified as accused in the Bangalore serial blast case. They are jailed here as part of the trial in the Kashmir recruitment case being probed by the National Investigating Agency (NIA).  Previously, they were sent to Bangalore in a police escorted special bus. But hereafter, the trial would be through video-conferencing,” Ernakulam sub-jail superintendent Raju said.The accused sat in front of a camera at the jail around 1 pm. When the case was called for hearing, the process began. The judge asked them about the jail environment. Within five minutes the process was over and the court extended judicial remand for the 11 inmates till May 10.“The court made use of video conferencing taking into account the security aspects. It is difficult to transport the accused to Bangalore once in a month. We have to arrange a bus and deploy 20 cops as part of security while sending them to Bangalore. The huge expense for that was saved this time,” the jail officials said.According to the Director General of Police (Prisons), the trial in the Coimbatore blast case, in which Nazir and other Malayali terror accused involved, will also be conducted through video-conferencing. “The expenditure to transport the accused to other states incur big amount. We have to spend the amount for the fuel for the bus and pilot vehicles and expenditure of the security guards. Moreover, there are high chances of ambush when the terror accused are being transported to different places. Video-conferencing saves time and money,” DGP said.On December 2009, suspected Lashkar-e-Taiba south India commander Thadiyantavide Nazir and his accomplice Shafaz were arrested by the Indian forces from the Bangladesh border in connection with Bangalore blasts case.