On Friday, Delhi Courts embraced the era of Artificial Intelligence (AI) by launching their first 'Pilot Hybrid Court' equipped with a 'Speech to Text Facility.' This advancement allows AI to intelligently record and convert dictations into text for judges during evidence recording.

This innovation aims to save time and enhance the working capacity of judges and court staff, particularly stenographers.

The inaugural ceremony at Tis Hazari Court saw Acting Chief Justice of Delhi High Court, Justice Manmohan, inaugurate the AI-equipped pilot hybrid courtroom. Additionally, he launched a new digital court app.

On this occasion, Justice Manmohan said, "Technology must be utilised to enhance the legal system and reduce delays in justice delivery."

The 'pilot hybrid court' features a speech-to-text capability for recording evidence, while the digital court application enables judicial officers to access all electronically filed cases.

Justice Manmohan emphasised, "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 have to be cut short. The only way to ensure that the system works properly is to ensure that good technology is brought into the system."

The ACJ described the speech-to-text facility for evidence recording as a very powerful tool with the potential to become a game-changer.

This facility utilizes advanced technologies like 'Automatic Speech Recognition' and 'Large Language Models' to efficiently convert spoken words into written text displayed on the system's screen.

The 'Digital Court Application' is a desktop tool designed for judicial officers, featuring a document upload function that ensures all physical documents presented in court are also available in digital form within the Case Information System (CIS).

Justice Manmohan noted that this facility, equipped with various tools, exemplifies the appropriate application of Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology.

The ACJ also emphasized ongoing efforts to promote paperless courts.

He praised the IT Committee, led by Justice Rajiv Shakdhar, for their outstanding work and acknowledged the collective effort being made.

However, Justice Manmohan also cautioned that technology is often misused to violate laws and commit crimes.

He said, "Today, when I sit in court and decide matters, one of the things that strikes me is that technology is being used to circumvent the laws, to break the laws, to promote infringement. The only way we can deal with violations and bring people in conformity with the law is again to use technology in the right way."

He further discussed that this technology can deal with the shortage of staff in the courts and can solve it.

"As a Chief Justice, the biggest problem that I face is that all judges are requesting a large number of stenographers, and there is not enough pool available. I think this will solve the problem to a large extent because once the speech-to-text facility is available, especially with regard to the recording of evidence by the joint registrars and by the district judiciary, this will ensure that quite a big pool of stenographers becomes available for other purposes," ACJ said.

On this occasion, Justice Suresh Kumar Kait, Justice Shakdhar, Justice Purushaindra Kumar Kaurav, Justice Sanjeev Narula, Justice Tushar Rao Gedela, Justice Girish Kathpaliya, Principal District and Sessions Judge (Headquarters) Sanjay Garf, and Principal District and Sessions Judge (West) Vinod Kumar, Senior Advocate Mohit Mathur , President of the Delhi High Court Bar Association, and Nitin Ahlawat, President of the Delhi Bar Association, were also present.