From Traditional to Tech-savvy: The Role of Digital Transformation in Improving Access to Criminal Justice in India

Abstract

The Indian judicial system, for a very long time, has been suffering from the taboo of low disposal rates and pendency of cases, along with the inefficient, costly, obscure and lethargic mode of dealing with the cases. The judiciary is facing a very difficult situation with humongous cases pending in courts. Even today, most of the work is done manually in various parts of the country, which adds to the delay in dispensing justice. With the advent of technology and living in the era of technology, almost every aspect of our lives, from personal to professional, has been affected by it. The administration and management of the regular work in courts have become easier and can solve the delay crisis to a certain extent. The Supreme Court had already proposed a road map and came out with other tools, such as artificial intelligence (AI), e-court filing, which can pave the way for the judiciary to deliver justice quickly with increased transparency, especially in criminal matters. These steps have been taken to utilize the power of technology to ease the life of courts, litigants and other stakeholders in the process. The advocates, judges, law students and others have slowly started adopting and comprehending the use of technology in the effective administration of justice as all have realized the importance of technology in the judicial system of the nation. The introduction of technology in the Indian judicial system with the E-courts Project (2005) opened an avenue for ICT in the Indian judicial system. The technology has been helping in removing the flaws existing in the Indian criminal justice system. Technology is slowly becoming a vehicle for winning people’s faith in the Indian judiciary. The researchers, through this article, would try to analyse the usefulness of ICT in the existing Indian judicial system by conducting a survey through a questionnaire amongst the members of the legal fraternity and other stakeholders. The survey would be conducted with the aim of assessing the perspective of how the stakeholders, particularly the law students, view the contemporary use of ICT in the Indian criminal justice system. Through the survey, the researchers would also try to find out what challenges the members of the legal fraternity feel exist in the present status of ICT in the Indian judiciary and the possible remedies or solutions to deal with such challenges.