Technology holds key to futuristic court system, says CJI DY Chandrachud

Tribune News Service

Satya Prakash

New Delhi, April 20

Noting that technology holds the key to a futuristic court system, Chief Justice of India Chandrachud on Saturday lamented that the inertia in the law and the procedures governing investigation has affected India’s ability to hold criminals to account.

Addressing a conference on 'India's Progressive Path in the Administration of Criminal Justice System' here, the CJI said that crime in contemporary times reflected the technological advancement of our age.

“Bearing in mind the evolving nature of crime, and the emergence of new digital crimes, it is imperative to boost the infrastructure and capacity of our police forces, he said.

The CJI, however, said, “Unfortunately, because of the inertia in the law and the procedures governing investigation, our ability to hold criminals to account has been affected. Our attention must be focused on improving investigations by allowing for multi-disciplinary investigating teams with law enforcement officers, and domain experts in the field of cyber-crime, and pattern recognition.”

Citing the 248th Report of the Standing Committee of the Rajya Sabha on the Bharatiya Sakshya Samhita, the CJI said the Indian criminal justice system has struggled to keep pace with the profound technological changes our socio- economic milieu that have radically re-imagined the way in which crimes manifest in the society.

He said, “In the courts, we confront the challenges of data leak every day. The safety of a person, the stigma attached to an accused, the threat perception of a witness will be compromised if the privacy of the stakeholders is not protected. We must inspire public confidence in securing the privacy of our citizens to gain an overall efficiency and trust in the criminal justice system. Technology holds the key to a futuristic court system.”

“While the new criminal laws create provisions which are synchronised to our times, we must also ensure that the infrastructure accompanying these procedures is developed adequately for the country to reap the benefits of the new laws. This naturally means that we must heavily invest in capacity building of our forensic experts, conduct training of investigating officers, and invest in our court system,” the CJI said.

“Technology must also be harnessed to improve the capacity of prosecutions and the court to work more efficiently. The prosecution can use technology to streamline paperwork and data to identify similar cases. This will enable the courts to streamline the listing process. The digitisation of files and infrastructure for conducting witness examination online must be harnessed to record and peruse voluminous material with the swiftness of a tap on the screen,” Justice Chandrachud said.

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