Role of AI in India’s Legal System: Opportunities and Dangers

For the past few years, the whole world has been hearing about “Artificial Intelligence” (AI) constantly. Lately, it has started to show its magic in almost all human work areas. According to Wikipedia, Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a computational system that performs tasks related to human intelligence like learning, reasoning, problem-solving, perception, and decision-making.

India’s judiciary faces long-standing challenges like pending cases, language barriers, and the need for digital modernization. In response, by integrating AI into judicial processes, case management, legal research, and law enforcement, India’s legal system is streamlining its operations, reducing delays, and making justice more accessible to everyone. Many lawyers and courts use AI-based tools like ChatGPT for learning, legal or reference case research, translation, and finding related news/articles. I have previously written about various aspects of AI, you can read them.

Use of AI in Indian Courts :-

As part of the third phase of the Indian Supreme Court’s ₹72.10 billion (7210 crore) e-Courts Project, AI-based initiatives are reshaping India’s legal system. These include:

• Automated case management
• Legal research and documentation
• Case filing and court procedures
• Predictive analysis in case outcomes
• AI chatbots for user assistance

These initiatives are making legal processes faster, smarter, and more transparent. They utilize many AI-driven technologies, including Machine Learning (ML), Natural Language Processing (NLP), Optical Character Recognition (OCR), Machine Language Translation, and Predictive Analytics. As of March 2025, over a thousand Indian Supreme Court judgments have been translated into sixteen regional languages using AI-assisted legal translation tools.

“Supreme Court Portal for Assistance in Courts Efficiency” (SUPACE), unveiled this March, is an AI-based portal developed by the Supreme Court of India to help judges manage their workload. It aims to facilitate legal research, identify relevant case precedents, and summarize judgments, ultimately increasing the efficiency and speed of the judicial process.

Use of AI in Indian Police System :-

AI is being integrated into various state police systems in India to enhance the efficiency of crime detection, surveillance, documentation, analysis, and criminal investigations. Key implemented systems include:

• Predictive Policing: AI analyzes crime patterns, high-risk areas, and criminal behavior, allowing law enforcement agencies to take proactive measures.
• FIR and Case Inquiry Documentation: AI-powered speech-to-text tools are used for documenting First Information Reports (FIRs) and case inquiries.
• Witness Testimony Analysis: AI is used to analyze witness testimonies and evaluate court evidence.
• Crime and Criminal Tracking Network Systems (CCTNS): AI is increasing the efficiency of CCTNS with the integration of e-Prisons and e-Forensics databases.

The Indian government’s facial recognition project database contains over 700 million photographs of Indian citizens, including over 2 million photographs of sexual offenders. Using this, AI facial recognition systems have been installed in 7 Indian railway stations since July 21st to identify sexual offenders. Now, AI is being used to identify criminals by reverse image matching from CCTV footage, and police can instantly determine if vehicle number plates are genuine or fake.

How Lawyers Can Use AI in Their Work :-

As common knowledge suggests, a lawyer’s job isn’t just about arguing in court. Behind that, there’s a huge amount of research, document analysis, drafting, and many other steps. AI simplifies administrative tasks like:

• Document Review and Analysis:
• Legal Research:
• Drafting Legal Documents and Analyzing client-provided documents:
• Predicting potential outcomes or risks for specific cases by analyzing past cases:
• Time tracking, billing, client intake, and scheduling hearings:

Currently, AI Legal Tech is growing rapidly in India, proving helpful for lawyers, law students, and the general public. Key examples include:

• Legora: Helps review and research documents faster, prepare smarter document drafts, and provide accurate advice. It allows for comparing critical elements and identifying inconsistencies.
• LawSimpl: Facilitates document drafting, review, and legal research.
• ManuPatra: One of India’s most advanced legal research platforms.
• Draft Bot Pro: Often called “ChatGPT for law” due to its capabilities.

Advantages AI Brings to Judges, Police, and the Legal Profession:-

• Efficiency and Speed: AI can perform legal research, document analysis, and drafting tasks quickly and efficiently. This leads to faster case resolution and reduces the burden on courts.
• Accuracy and Consistency: In addition to reducing human errors, AI ensures consistent application of laws. It is also helpful in identifying potential biases and errors in judgments or police actions.
• Improved Legal Research: AI helps judges and lawyers search vast legal databases quickly and accurately.
• Access to Justice for All: With AI-powered chatbots and the ability to translate into regional languages, common people, especially the underprivileged, will be able to easily understand legal information and judicial processes.
• Data-Driven Insights: AI helps police in crime prevention by analyzing crime data. AI provides insights for judges and lawyers to make better decisions and formulate strategies based on past judgments and case data.

Disadvantages/Risks AI Brings to Judges, Police, and the Legal Profession :-

• Misinformation and “Hallucinations”: AI can sometimes create completely false or fabricated information/legal references. This could lead to incorrect information being presented in court, undermining the credibility of the legal process.
• Bias in Algorithms/Data: If the information or algorithms used to train AI systems contain biases, AI can continue or amplify those same biases.
• Lack of Transparency: It can be difficult to understand how complex AI systems reach a decision. This “black box” nature can reduce accountability and transparency in judicial decisions, leading to a decline in public trust.
• Erosion of Human Judgment: Over-reliance on AI can diminish the critical thinking, nuanced understanding, and empathy of lawyers and judges, potentially affecting the quality of decisions.
• Data Privacy and Security Risks: AI tools require access to vast amounts of sensitive and confidential legal information. A data breach here could pose a risk to individuals’ private lives and the judicial system.

Artificial Intelligence has immense potential to transform the legal and judicial system. It can speed up work, increase efficiency, and help deliver justice to more people. However, it’s wrong to ignore its risks. Challenges like misinformation, biases, and lack of transparency must be handled carefully. It’s important to remember that AI is here to assist us, not to completely take over our place. Human discretion, ethics, and empathy will always remain the heart of law and justice. Only by using AI responsibly can we build a fair and effective legal system.