Acting Chief Justice (ACJ) of the Delhi High Court, Justice Manmohan, Friday said that technology must be harnessed to improve the justice system.
“We have to use and harness technology to improve the legal system to ensure that the people who are accused of crimes are brought to book, and the delays are cut short,” he said while inaugurating a ‘pilot hybrid court’, with a speech-to-text facility for evidence recording and a digital court application, in Tis Hazari Courts.
Adalat AI, the AI-powered tool, leverages automatic speech recognition technology and large language models to seamlessly convert spoken words into written text. On the other hand, the ‘Digital Court Application’ will allow judicial officers access to all e-filed (electronically filed) cases.
The installation of equipment has been set up in pilot courtroom number 318 at Tis Hazari for conducting the hybrid hearing. “We are trying to promote paperless courts. Everyone is making an effort, and the IT committee headed by Justice Rajiv Shakdher is doing a great job,” ACJ Manmohan added.
Efforts were underway to develop hybrid court facilities in all 691 district courtrooms in Delhi with a budget of about Rs 387 crore, he said.
As a caveat, ACJ Manmohan also pointed out how technology can be used to circumvent laws if not applied in the right way.
He further discussed how this technology could help address the shortage of staff in courts.
“The implementation of speech-to-text software in our courtrooms for evidence recording and other purposes is a ground-breaking development. The technology will streamline the entire evidence recording process, ensuring accurate and timely recording of proceedings,” said Sanjay Garg, Principal District and Sessions Judge (Headquarters).
Other dignitaries present at the event were Justice Suresh Kumar Kait, Justice Shakdher and Vinod Kumar, Principal District and Sessions Judge (West).
