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New Indian Express
4 days ago
- Politics
- New Indian Express
Delhi courts crumble under mounting caseload
NEW DELHI: Suresh Kumar, a 59-year-old resident of Rohini, stands in the corridor of a Delhi district court, visibly weary. 'It has been over five years. I am running from post to pillar to seek justice for land illegally occupied by my brother. The court keeps giving me dates, but nothing substantial has happened. At this rate, my property case will be solved after my death.' His words echo the painful reality faced by lakhs of people trapped in the web of judicial delays. Despite having one of the strongest legal infrastructures in the country, Delhi's courts are buried under a backlog of cases. As of January 1, 2025, more than 14 lakh cases were pending in the capital's district courts. Years without progress One in every five of these cases has been awaiting resolution for over five years, and around two per cent have been pending for more than a decade. Each case number is a real person like Suresh—waiting, hoping, and slowly losing faith in the is not an overnight crisis. It has been building steadily. In 2017, each district judge in Delhi handled an average of 1,551 cases. By 2024, this number rose to 2,023 cases per judge. While still below the national average of 2,200, the burden remains overwhelming. Low clearance rate Delhi's Case Clearance Rate (CCR)—a measure of how many cases are disposed of against how many are filed—was 78 per cent in 2024, among the lowest in India. Only once in the past eight years, in 2023, did Delhi courts manage a 100 per cent CCR. The India Justice Report 2025, published by Tata Trusts and several legal advocacy groups, presented a grim scenario. Despite Delhi having one of the lowest judicial vacancy rates (11 per cent) and the highest representation of women judges (45 per cent), the courts are still struggling to clear the growing pile of unresolved matters. The consequences are more than inconvenient—they are a direct threat to liberty. 91 per cent of Delhi's prison population consists of undertrials—people who have not yet been convicted. Thousands remain in jail for months or even years because their cases have not moved forward. This is a serious violation of the right to a speedy trial, a basic tenet of justice.
Indian Express
18-05-2025
- Business
- Indian Express
Justice at your fingertips: How AI is helping Delhi's judges, lawyers deal with caseload
A huge backlog of cases, shortage of judges, staff, and even chambers for advocates to work out of — it's no secret that Delhi's courts are overburdened. Sample this. – In Delhi's lower courts, there are nearly 15 lakh pending cases — 12.9 lakh criminal and 2.13 lakh civil, according to data available on the National Judicial Datagrid. – The Delhi High Court has less than one judge per 10 lakh population, according to the India Justice Report 2025 by Tata Trusts, which analyses the criminal justice system. – Close to three-quarters of the prisoners in India are undertrials, and the fate of over 50 million cases remains undecided. As things stand, it will take over 300 years to clear the current backlog of cases. With courtrooms bogged down with manual processes and delays, is there a solution to this legal tangle? Artificial Intelligence (AI) could provide one. From AI-driven speech recognition software designed to assist court stenographers in transcribing witness examinations and orders dictated by judges to applications designed to streamline workflow, AI has been slowly transforming the judicial system in the country. While leaving the delivery of justice to the judges, it can automate all other processes that are too cumbersome for people. Utkarsh Saxena, a lawyer since 2012, has co-founded one such firm that has come to the aid of the court. Called Adalat AI, it provides machine learning-powered solutions to courts in India in their attempt to tackle widespread backlogs and delays. Saxena, who is also the firm's CEO, said, '… Sometimes judges have to write their order manually… It's a lot of paperwork. Some told us that they feel like their board exams are still going on.' He used to be a clerk with a justice of the Supreme Court of India. 'A large part of the problem of delay is caused not due to questions of law but those of logistics… our goal is to eliminate that. Tools can run in the background to quicken the slow processes, and at the same time, judges can focus on delivering justice,' he added. With the Adalat AI application, all judges need to do is login, press two buttons, and speak out their observations. All their observations are automatically transcribed — legal jargon included — and voila! An order is automatically prepared. While other speech-to-text applications exist, what separates Adalat AI from the rest is that it has been extensively trained on Indian legal jargon, Indian accents, and pronunciation. The advanced algorithm is calibrated using legal terms sourced from over 1 lakh court orders in 11 local languages. The app also has a case flow management dashboard (analogous to a digital version of a cause list) that helps in streamlining workflows. All the judge needs to do is dictate his order, and it is converted automatically into the printed order. After the judge finishes dictating orders for the day, they can download them — all of which are converted into ZIP files. The application is currently being used in 8 states and 3,000 courtrooms across the country — Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Delhi, Bihar, Odisha, Haryana and Punjab. It aims to expand its reach to 50% of all courtrooms in the country by 2025. 'Adalat AI is also a part of the training curriculum at judicial academies,' Arghya Bhattacharya, co-founder of the firm, told The Indian Express. He is an AI and machine learning engineer. 'We have a tight feedback loop. What we're building is for the system and also with the system. We have WhatsApp communities which enable judges or court staff to report any bugs in our application,' he added. Adalat AI also allows scanning and converting legal documents into digital records instantly. 'Our end goal is to liberate the justice system from manual clerical work,' said Bhattacharya. At Delhi's lower courts, the AI software is being rolled out. Staff seem to be relieved that, in the future, it could help reduce their workload. 'Just look at these trunks,' said a court staff member working in a Delhi court, referring to the case files inside. 'Is there a need to have so many files? Half our time goes into sorting them out,' the staffer added. 'I think files should be digitised to the maximum extent possible.' Speaking at an event in July 2024 during which Adalat AI was inaugurated in Delhi's district Courts, the then Delhi High Court Chief Justice — now SC Judge — Manmohan had said, 'The biggest problem I see judges facing is that there is a large demand for stenographers, but there's not a large pool available. I think this app will solve that problem to a large extent… it will ensure [by transcribing orders] that a large pool of stenographers will become available for other purposes.' 'Their team has done a fantastic job… this is the right application of technology,' he had added. Along with judges, litigants, and stenographers, lawyers have also started relying on AI. 'I sometimes use an AI application to help me cull out important bits from judgments,' said advocate Vivek Chandra Jaiswal. 'I just upload the PDFs and it gives me all the important portions. I've even used these arguments in court at times.' One such application is 'Ask Junior', designed by advocate Renu Gupta. This AI tool concisely summarises judgments and court decisions. The tool also releases a monthly digest of summaries of Supreme Court judgments to aid advocates. Gupta told The Indian Express, 'We take a multi-step approach to generating our summaries. First, we parse each judgment and extract key components — facts, legal issues, arguments, reasoning, and the ratio decidendi. Then, we distill these into a short, accessible summary that captures the core legal reasoning without losing depth.' 'We've collected all publicly available Supreme Court judgments and used them to train our models, which are continuously evaluated using custom metrics developed with inputs from practicing lawyers,' she added. Gupta also said that as of April 30, 2025, AskJunior had summarised 14,823 judgments with a 96.1% accuracy, delivered over 3,00,000 newsletters, and grown to 3,600+ Substack subscribers. The Supreme Court of India has also adopted the use of AI language technology in the translation of judicial documents. Till January 2025, 17 High Courts in the country have started providing online access to judgments in vernacular languages. On the same date, 36,324 Supreme Court judgments were translated into Hindi, and 42,765 judgments had been translated into 17 other regional languages.
Indian Express
15-05-2025
- Politics
- Indian Express
Appointing judges not similar to normal recruitment in public service: HC on plea pertaining to vacancies
The Delhi High Court on Wednesday observed that the process of appointing judges is not similar to 'normal recruitment in public service' but rather 'high constitutional offices,' while refusing to entertain a public interest litigation (PIL) pertaining to the vacancies of judges. A bench, comprising Chief Justice DK Upadhyaya and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela, was dealing with the PIL filed by practising advocate Amit Sahni. The advocate was seeking the court's direction to the 'alarming and chronic shortage' of judges at the Delhi HC, highlighting that it is currently working with a strength of 36 judges against a sanctioned strength of 60. Sahni also highlighted that a single judge of the Delhi HC recently highlighted the shortage of judges in an order. As the Delhi High Court functions at 60% of its sanctioned strength, the court in an order on April 25, flagged 'overflowing dockets' admitting that it is 'unable to decide' appeals 'within reasonable period of time,' on account of shortage of judges, as compared to the general population and the litigation quantum. During the proceedings, Chief Justice Upadhyaya remarked, 'Everyone associated with the judicial system is alive to the situation. It is not that efforts are not being made.' Additional Solicitor General Chetan Sharma also informed the bench that the Supreme Court is already seized with the matter pertaining to the broader issues related to the appointment of judges. Sahni subsequently withdrew the plea, with liberty to be added as a party in the SC litigation. The bench, disposing of the plea, recorded, 'Accordingly, nothing needs to be adjudicated in this petition.' As per the India Justice Report 2025 by Tata Trusts, which analyses the criminal justice system, Delhi has less than one high court judge per 10 lakh population. According to the report, Delhi performed the best in the judge-to-people population with 36 subordinate court judges per 10 lakh population and less than one high court judge (0.6) per 10 lakh population.
Indian Express
10-05-2025
- Politics
- Indian Express
Dockets overflowing, unable to decide appeals in time, functioning at 60% of sanctioned strength: Delhi HC
As the Delhi High Court functions at 60% of its sanctioned strength, the court in an order on April 25, flagged 'overflowing dockets' and admitted that it is 'unable to decide' appeals 'within reasonable period of time'. 'On account of acute shortage of judges as compared to the general population and the litigation quantum, for a long time, the list of regular matters does not reach till the end of the day of hearing. Rather, many a time even beyond 5 pm when the courts rise for the day, some of the matters remain unheard, which is extremely painful for the judge,' Justice Girish Kathpalia recorded in the order. According to the India Justice Report 2025 by Tata Trusts, which analyses the criminal justice system, Delhi has less than one HC judge for each 10 lakh of people. Notably, the report said that Delhi performed the best in the judge-to-people population with 36 subordinate court judges per 10 lakh population and less than one (0.6) HC judge per 10 lakh population. The HC in Delhi currently has 36 sitting judges against a sanctioned strength of 60 judges. As per HC's monthly reports – the latest came out in March – new cases instituted in March exceeded the cases disposed of during the month, the maximum increase being seen in criminal cases followed by civil writ petitions. On the criminal side, several judges have nearly 80-100 matters listed each day as fresh cases and in advance. Justice Kathpalia was dealing with a petition filed by Mukesh Gupta alias Mukesh Kumar Gupta, an accused in a CBI case, who was seeking permission to travel abroad from May 1 to 11 to attend a club assembly of Rotary Club at Almaty in Kazakhstan and Georgia, to maintain social ties and help his business grow. The CBI had, however, opposed the plea, telling the court that if allowed to leave the country, Gupta 'would not return to face sentence, which has been suspended by the predecessor bench while admitting this appeal'. It was highlighted that Gupta had earlier been denied permission to travel for leisure trips although the court had granted permission to travel for business. The court, while recording that 'right to even leisure trips to certain extent ought not be declined,' recorded that 'on account of overflowing dockets, this court is unable to decide the appeals within reasonable period of time'. It noted that Gupta's appeal, filed in 2019, was to be heard as a regular matter. Regular matters for the day are old matters, usually taken up by most courts at Delhi HC after dealing with the fresh matters first, as well as the advance list, which includes matters that have earlier been taken up when it was filed afresh and was thereafter listed on the 'advance list'. Most judges at Delhi HC follow the practice of aiming to complete the new cases listed as well as the advance list first. Additionally, the 36 sitting judges have special benches scheduled in a week to hear time-fixed matters, which may be of some urgency. Some judges, like Justice Amit Mahajan, have made it a practice since January 27 that matters listed in 'regulars' category 'will be taken up at the end of the board on daily basis'. Justice Tara Vitasta Ganju, meanwhile, has made it a practice that regular matters will be taken up every Thursday at 3.30 pm. Reasoning that the 'acute shortage of judges' and the quantum of litigation is resulting in the HC unable to reach the list of regular matters for hearing, despite the court sometimes working past its official hours, Justice Kathpalia allowed the accused to travel for the said period, saying, 'In such uncertain atmosphere, depriving the applicant/appellant free movement, even if to enjoy leisure trips, cannot be justified.' Meanwhile, a PIL has been filed in HC, highlighting a shortage of judges and urging for expeditiously filling up the vacancies by elevating eligible district judges and advocates from the bar. In his plea, advocate Amit Sahni has sought an urgent judicial intervention.
Time of India
04-05-2025
- Health
- Time of India
India's Prisons at Breaking Point: Overcrowded, Understaffed, and Starved of Healthcare
New Delhi: Dark, dingy, cramped, and gasping for breath. That's how tens of thousands of prisoners are thrown into prison cells, left to suffer in silence. With abysmal hygiene and neglect for healthcare, prisoners are facing their test for basic survival. That is the essence from the latest India Justice Report 2025 (IJR), which ranks individual Indian states in relation to their capacity to deliver access to justice. Most of India's prisons are spilling over. With a national occupancy rate of over 131 per cent, more than 55 per cent of all prisons were overcrowded in 2022. At least 89 prisons were operating at over 250 per cent capacity, and 12 exceeded 400 per cent, exposing the chronic neglect of prison infrastructure. Leading the list of severely overcrowded facilities is Uttar Pradesh's Moradabad District Prison at 497 per cent occupancy, followed by West Bengal's Kandi Sub-Jail (477 per cent) and Maharashtra's Thane Central Prison (401 per cent). The sharp surge of the trend is not a recent phenomenon. Between 2012 and 2022, the prison population surged from 3.8 lakh to 5.7 lakh, while capacity failed to keep pace. If unchecked, projections indicate 6.8 lakh inmates by 2030, but space for only 5.15 lakh. Overcrowding, insufficient medical care, and lack of support for mental health and disabilities continue to plague India's prison system, exposing glaring gaps between policy and implementation. The report by IJR assesses 4 pillars -- police, prisons, judiciary, legal aid and SHRCs, using 5 parameters: human resources, infrastructure, budgets, workload, and diversity. Left to Die Medical infrastructure in prisons is severely compromised. Despite the Model Prison Manual (2016) recommending one doctor for every 300 prisoners, the national average stands at a staggering 1:775. Most Indian states do not meet the recommended number of medical officers, with many being understaffed. However, a few northeastern states and union territories perform better. Worse still, states like Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Uttarakhand, and West Bengal report one doctor for more than 1,000 inmates. Uttarakhand's doctor vacancy is over 90 per cent, with no female doctors on record—despite clear guidelines that only lady doctors should attend to women prisoners. While 87,000 women were incarcerated in 2022, only 84 lady doctors were in service. Bihar, with 27, leads the count, while 19 states/UTs had no female doctors at all. Mental Healthcare? Who Cares Mental health care is another neglected area. From 4,470 in 2012 to 9,084 in 2022, the number of prisoners with recorded mental illnesses has doubled. But these figures are likely underreported. Against the benchmark of one psychologist for every 500 inmates, India has only 25 psychologists for the entire prison population—an average of 1 for every 22,928 prisoners. That is an appalling disparity and no state comes close to meeting the benchmark. Tamil Nadu, with 11 psychologists, fares best but even here, coverage is limited to central prisons. 25 states/UTs report no provision for mental health professionals. Prisoners with Disabilities: Invisible and Excluded The condition of inmates with disabilities is worsened by a lack of visibility and accountability. Despite the Accessibility Guidelines (2021) and Supreme Court's directives, prisons continue to be physically and systemically inaccessible. There is no comprehensive data on prisoners who enter with or develop disabilities. This absence makes it difficult to assess their needs or plan accommodations like ramps, wheelchairs, prosthetics, and special beds—though these are mandated under the Model Prison Manual. Additionally, no prison reports the appointment of a disability-inclusion officer, as recommended by the Ministry of Home Affairs. According to the IJR report India's prisons are not just over-occupied, under-prepared, under-staffed, and under-cared-for—turning incarceration into a sentence far more brutal than the law intended. India's prison system is in dire need of structural reforms—not just to relieve overcrowding but to ensure humane conditions for the incarcerated. Without serious investment in healthcare, mental wellness, and accessibility, prisons risk becoming institutions of irreversible harm rather than rehabilitation. Prisons are meant for punishment, but as indicated by the report, inhumane conditions such as overcrowding and inadequate healthcare are widespread. These issues hinder rehabilitation and violate inmates' basic human rights, emphasizing the urgent need for reforms that balance punishment with humane treatment and effective rehabilitation.
