We want to use VConsol for all virtual hearings; else what happened in Karnataka could occur: Kerala High Court

The Kerala High Court on Thursday highlighted the security offered by the virtual hearing platform VConsol Court, from cyber attacks..Justice A Muhamed Mustaque opined that hearings and live streams on other platforms could lead to situations akin to what happened recently at the Karnataka High Court which forced it to temporarily virtual hearings due to cyber security concerns. The Karnataka High Court decided to suspend video conference hearings as well as live-streaming of such hearings after unknown persons displayed obscene images during virtual court proceedings on December 4.Justice Mustaque pointed out that VConsol prevents users with IP addresses outside India from accessing it unless the IP address is specifically whitelisted. "We want to go for this VConsol for everything. They (lawyers) have to register. Otherwise something like what happened in Karnataka High Court would also happen here. On VConsol it might not be possible. You cannot use it (VConsol) from an IP address outside India unless it is whitelisted. You can't access Kerala High Court website from IP outside India either", Justice Mustaque remarked..The judge made the remark while he was sitting as part of a division bench with Justice Shoba Annamma Eapen earlier today.The bench was hearing appeals preferred by the Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board (KIIFB) and former State Finance Minister Dr. Thomas Isaac, challenging an order of a single-judge permitting the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to issue fresh summons to them in connection with a probe into KIIFB's financial transactions.During the hearing, standing counsel for ED, advocate Jaishankar V Nair informed the bench that the delay on the part of Additional Solicitor General ARL Sundaresan from joining the virtual hearing was due to the fact that lawyers have to first register and have an account on VConsol Court to access the virtual hearing. This prompted Justice Mustaque to remark that even though lawyers have to register, VConsol offers better protection in terms of cyber security. .Kerala High Court started using VConsol to conduct virtual hearings in June 2021 after the second wave of COVID-19 pandemic.VConsol was developed by Techgentsia Software Technologies Private Limited, which is an IT company based in Chertala, Kerala. VConsol Court is a role-based, custom-made virtual courthouse made in India. It uses the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology award-winning VCONSOL engine based on MCU technology for a smoother video conferencing experience even at very low internet speeds. In VConsol courthouse, any number of courtrooms can be created and supported.Currently, only 11 of the 30 benches of the Kerala High Court utilise VConsol Court. The other benches use the video conferencing platforms Zoom and Google Meet.