India, Nov. 26 -- A year has passed since the country's first 24x7 open and networked (ON) court was set up in Kerala's Kollam district, and the feedback and results of the pilot project suggest that it is a model that has the potential to be scaled up and replicated across India in a bid to knock off the massive backlog of cases in the justice system.

The ON court, inaugurated by current Supreme Court Chief Justice BR Gavai and which began functioning in November last year, was aimed to do a lot more than just digitising some aspects of justice delivery. It had the goal of bringing courts closer to the people and helping lawyers, litigants, and even the accused from being bogged down by the paperwork and proceedings.

To a large extent,...