AI will now dictate and type for judges in Delhi High Court

New Delhi: Acting Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court, Justice Manmohan, on Friday said technology should be used to improve the justice system.

He was speaking at the inauguration of a “pilot hybrid court with a speech-to-text facility for capturing evidence” and the launch of a “digital court application that allows judicial officers to access all electronically filed cases” at the Tis Hazari District Court.

“We need to harness and use technology to improve the justice system so that we can ensure that people accused of crimes are brought to justice and delays are reduced. The only way to ensure that the system works well is to ensure that good technology is incorporated into the system,” Justice Manmohan said.

He said the speech-to-text feature for capturing evidence is a “very powerful tool” that has the potential to be a “game-changer”.

“When I sit in court today and decide cases, if I look at the bigger picture, one thing stands out to me: technology is being used to circumvent laws and thereby facilitate infringement,” Justice Manmohan said.

“The only way we can tackle violations and ensure people comply with the law is by using technology in the right way,” he added.

According to Justice Manmohan, it would also solve the problem of shortage of stenographers.

“The other problem I face as Chief Justice is that all the judges require a large number of stenographers and there is not enough staff available,” Justice Manmohan said.

“I think this will largely solve the problem because once the capability to convert text to speech is available, particularly in relation to the recording of evidence by the joint clerks and by the district court, it will ensure that there is quite a large pool of stenographers available,” he added.

According to Justice Manmohan, it was an example of the correct application of artificial intelligence (AI).

On hybrid court facilities, he said, “We are trying to promote paperless courts; everyone is trying their best and the IT committee headed by Justice Rajiv Shakder is doing a great job. We need much more finance. Of course, the state has its own priorities. So there is a bit of a tussle or there is a bit of a debate about it and we have to sort it out.”

“But we are ensuring that we can develop hybrid court facilities in all the 691 district courts and there is a budget of about Rs 387 crore planned. We are confident that we will get that soon enough. There are 14 pilot projects in the pipeline which need to be implemented immediately,” he added.

Justice Suresh Kumar Kait and Justice Shakder also spoke on the occasion.

Sanjay Garg, Principal District and Sessions Judge (head office), delivered the welcome address while Vinod Kumar, Principal District and Sessions Judge (west), delivered the vote of thanks.