Aarohi Dhumale
On 8th August, 2024, Madhya Pradesh High Court adjudicated the question that whether Artificial Intelligence (AI) enabled applications can be used for interpreting the sign language of disabled victims/plaintiffs, who come to the Police to lodge a FIR. In addition to this, another question was also dealt with, that whether videography data of a crime scene, now mandatorily recorded as per provisions of the Bhartiya Nagrik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), can be analysed in a better way by using AI apps.
The Bench comprised of Justice Anand Pathak, who was of the opinion that Court’s intention is to improve the criminal justice system through the integration of the Inter-Operable Criminal Justice System (ICJS) with the SANDES App. ICJS stores case data and SANDES App is an Indian state-owned instant messaging platform which is used for inter-departmental communication in the Central Government. Integrating both the apps will synchronize data from Police, Jail, Forensic and Prosecution, so that data transfer and is facilitated and data is used without delay.
During the hearing, National Informatics Centre team also demonstrated steps to synchronize the SANDES App with the ICJS. The Court discussed the data-transfer across departments and also suggested creating a ‘Prisoner ID’ to keep record of a prisoner which would help in easy access of all data related to each prisoner and facilitate data transfer across various stakeholders, and can also be used in Vakalatnama and other important legal documents so that documentation can become more efficient. Other mechanisms like only verified personnel being able to access this data, conceptualizing OTP based link for victim’s protection and forwarding this link to SHO, assessing profiles of investigating officers, medico-legal experts and the Public Prosecutor who are working on the case,etc.
“Uni-Directional Messaging is for ensuring the latest updates to the complainant/victims as well as victim protection from intimidation.” the Court said.
The National Informatics Centre team requested eight weeks to complete the synchronization. The Court directed the Deputy Solicitor General to coordinate with various ministries to explore the possibility of implementing this project at a national level. The matter has been now scheduled for next hearing on October 16.
It was also noted that Delhi High Court in an order dated 30th July, 2024 urged for finalization of a technical solution to align the ICJS with the police’s criminal database to prevent any discrepancies.
Case Name: Vijendra Singh Sikarwar v. The State Of Madhya Pradesh and Others
Case Number: MCRC-24900-2023
Bench: Justice Anand Pathak