AI tools in Indian courtsCEFR B1
5 Dec 2025
Adapted from Sakkcham Singh Parmaar, Global Voices • CC BY 3.0
Photo by Rishu Bhosale, Unsplash
India’s courts face a backlog of several tens of millions of cases and are adopting digital tools to modernize. The e-Courts programme began in 2007 with e-filing, digital cause lists and online judgments. Phase III focuses on using machine learning and language technologies to make digitized judicial information more useful.
A key innovation is SUPACE, the Supreme Court Portal for Assistance in Courts Efficiency. SUPACE helps judges and research staff by identifying facts, suggesting precedents and drafting outlines, but it does not make court decisions. Language tools are expanding: SUVAS translates judgments from English into other Indian languages, and some high courts test tools to convert local-language judgments into English.
Automated transcription has produced near-real-time searchable text since 2023. In 2025 the High Court of Kerala ordered subordinate courts to use Adalat.AI to record witness depositions from November 1, 2025; the tool was developed by a start-up with research links to Harvard and MIT. Officials say AI can reduce transcription errors, catch basic e-filing mistakes, shorten hearings and help prioritise urgent cases, but judges and scholars warn about fabrication, opacity, bias and privacy. The Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 applies to automated processing.
Court policies aim for a middle path: Kerala treats AI as an administrative tool, bans generative AI from drafting judgments or predicting outcomes, and forbids external platforms that require uploading confidential information. The Supreme Court has set up an AI Committee and works with institutions such as IIT Madras. Experts recommend audits for bias, mandatory disclosures when AI is used, better infrastructure, judicial training and routes for litigants to challenge AI’s role.
Difficult words
- backlog — many cases waiting to be decided
- e-filing — sending court documents electronically to the court
- precedents — earlier court decision used as an example
- transcription — written or typed record of spoken wordstranscription errors
- depositions — formal spoken statement recorded for legal use
- generative AI — computer systems that create new text or content
- bias — unfair preference or judgment in a system
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Discussion questions
- Should courts allow AI to draft judgments? Why or why not?
- How might automated transcription change the length and accuracy of hearings?
- What steps would you want if a court used AI that handled your private information?
