Now witnesses can get dates of court appearance on mobile phone

Witnesses of criminal cases can now know the dates of their appearance before the courts concerned through their mobile phones.

In order to ensure the timely presence of witnesses in the court, mobile operator Teletalk will inform the dates -- through SMS -- to the witnesses along with the existing system of issuing summons orders.

The law ministry's law and justice division today signed an agreement with Teletalk Bangladesh Limited under the directive from Law Minister Anisul Huq to this effect.  

The agreement was signed between law and justice division's joint secretary AHM Habibur Rahman Bhuiyan and Teletalk Bangladesh Limited's General Manager Provash Chandra Roy at the ministry with the presence of law and justice division secretary Md Golam Sarwar and other officials concerned.

Law ministry's Public Relation Officer Md Rezaul Karim told The Daily Star an initiative has been taken to implement the agreement through a pilot programme primarily in Cumilla and Narsingdi districts and the programme will run in all the districts across the country in phases.

He said the programme will be launched on March 18, on the occasion of the birth centenary of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.

Representatives from law ministry and Teletalk company will provide the information from the courts, Rezaul Karim said, adding that the presence of witnesses before courts will be ensured in short time and minimum cost and therefore, the cases will be disposed of quickly.