The Union Law Ministry’s purpose to develop Artificial Intelligence (AI) for translating laws focuses on streamlining the process, reduce dependency on state governments, and ensure timely and accurate translations across many Indian languages. According to senior officials of the Ministry, the latest trial of using AI to translate laws was only around 40 percent successful. As of now, the trials have not yielded usable results because AI is still being developed. One officer stated that the legal glossary is being fed into the software. “We are expecting it to be ready by the end of the year 2024, after which we can start using the AI to translate laws. Right now, we are dependent on the state governments to send us the translations,” he said.
The officers said that the Ministry and the National Informatics Centre are feeding in words from the legal glossary in Hindi and other Indian languages into the AI to improve results. While there are 22 Indian languages in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution, translations are likely to be in 14 languages, including Bengali, Tamil, Gujarati, Urdu, Punjabi and Marathi, as not all languages are used in courts. The legal glossary in Hindi and other Indian languages prepared by the Ministry are being used to train AI.
These efforts come at a time when the three new criminal laws have come into effect on July 1, while their official translations into Indian languages are yet to be notified. Law Ministry sources said that state governments were asked in March to translate and submit these laws for vetting. The sources said that the process was expected to take around six months. Some states have already sent drafts of the Bharatiya Sakshya (Second) Act, 2023, which is the new Evidence Act.
The Supreme Court has also used AI to translate its judgments. The project, from 2019, had translated 31,184 judgments into 16 languages as on December 2, 2023, according to a reply by Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal in Lok Sabha in February. Article 348(1)(a) of the Constitution states that all proceedings in the Supreme Court and in every High Court, shall be in English language. Clause(2) of Article 348 of the Constitution states that notwithstanding anything in sub-clause(a) of clause(1), the governor of a state may, with the previous consent of the president of India, authorize the use of Hindi Language, or any other language used for any official purposes of the state, in proceedings in the High Court having its principal seat in that state. The Cabinet Committee’s decision, dated May 21, 1965, has stipulated that consent of the chief justice of India be obtained on any proposal related to the use of a language other than English in the High Court.
Under Article 235 of the Constitution, the administrative control over the district and subordinate judiciary in states vests with the concerned High Courts. As regards the use of Hindi or any regional language in lower courts, it is decided by the High Court and the state government concerned in consultation with each other.
In 2022, Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the All India Conference of Law Ministers and Law Secretaries through video conference. While inaugurating the Conference, he stressed upon the use of regional languages in the legal system for ease of dispensation of justice. He emphasized that for “ease of justice”, new laws should be written in a clear manner and in regional languages so that even the poor can understand them easily and the legal language should not become a barrier for the citizens. “Local language plays a big role in the legal system for ease of justice. Academic ecosystem will also have to be created for the youth in their mother tongue. Law courses should be in mother tongue, our laws should be written in simple language, digital libraries of important cases of High Courts and Supreme Court should be in local language,” he further said.
The language used in courts in India has seen a transition over the centuries with a shift from Urdu to Persian and Persian scripts during the Mughal period which continued in subordinate courts even during the British rule. The British introduced a codified system of law in India with English as the official language. After Independence, Article 343 of the Constitution provides that the official language of the Union shall be Hindi in Devanagari script. It, however, mandates that the English language shall continue to be used for all official purposes of the Union for a period of 15 years after the commencement of the Constitution. It further provides that the president of India may authorise the use of the Hindi language in addition to the English language for any official purpose of the Union during the period.
Justice L Nageswara Rao is the chair of the Supreme Court’s Artificial Intelligence Committee, which was established in 2019. He stated that “new-age, cutting-edge technology of machine learning and Artificial Intelligence of the judicial domain was felt to be needed to enhance efficiency and productivity of justice delivery.” While the Supreme Court is already using language technology to translate its rulings into common tongues, it has also initiated a ground-breaking initiative to use AI to support judges’ legal research. The goal of integrating AI into the legal system is to improve productivity and efficiency in the administration of justice while also decreasing the number of cases pending.
However, last year, the Delhi High Court held that AI can substitute neither human intelligence nor the humane element in the adjudicatory process. The Court said that ChatGPT can’t be the basis of adjudication of legal or factual issues in a court of law. Justice Prathiba M Singh stated that the accuracy and reliability of AI generated data is still in the grey area, and at best, such a tool can be utilised for a preliminary understanding or preliminary research. The Court’s observations came while dealing with a lawsuit by luxury brand Christian Louboutin against a partnership firm involved in the manufacture and sale of shoes allegedly in violation of its trademark.
AI is a set of technologies that enable computers to perform a variety of advanced functions, including the ability to see, understand and translate spoken and written language, analyse data, make recommendations, and more. On its own or combined with other technologies (sensors, geolocation, robotics), AI can perform tasks that would otherwise require human intelligence or intervention. Digital assistants, GPS guidance, autonomous vehicles, and generative AI tools (Open AI’s ChatGPT) are just a few examples of AI in the daily news and our daily lives.
As a field of computer science, AI encompasses (and is often mentioned together with) machine learning and deep learning. These disciplines involve the development of AI algorithms, modelled after the decision-making processes of the human brain, that can “learn” from available data and make increasingly more accurate classifications or predictions over time. How that translates into law and the judicial process remains to be seen.
—By Adarsh Kumar and India Legal Bureau