Dhaka Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Court formed 14 virtual courts today, which will function digitally to deal with bail petitions and other urgent matters between April 12 and 19.

Eight of the newly formed virtual courts will only hear bail petitions of accused who have been arrested in cases filed with the 50 police stations in the capital, while one will hear petitions regarding furnishing bail bond of anticipatory bails secured from the High Court.

Five other courts will hear the petitions of City Corporation, PalliBidyut, DPDC, DESCO, and Marine courts of the capital.

All the courts will hear petitions today, April 13, 15, 18, and 19. All of the people, including lawyers and litigants, will have to maintain physical distance and health guidelines during court proceedings.

The magistrates of the 14 courts are: Md Tofazzal Hossain, Md Ashek Imam, Md Shahinur Rahman, Debdash Chandra Adhikary, Md Mainul Islam, Satyabrata Sikder, Debabrata Biswas, Morshed Al Mamun Bhuiyan, Md Atiqul Islam, Mehedi Pavel Sweet, Begum Rejmin Sultana, Ferdous Wahid, Joinab Begum, and Wasim Sheikh.

Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (in-charge) -- Abu Bakar Siddique -- formed the virtual courts today that will conduct case proceedings digitally through video conference after receiving the gazette notification from the Supreme Court.

Chief Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain on Sunday directed all criminal courts across the country to run their functions through video conferencing from today as part of the efforts to curb the spread of Covid-19.