ISLAMABAD: Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Asif Saeed Khosa on Wednesday said that the Supreme Court (SC) has introduced a new system based on artificial intelligence (AI) to facilitate efficient disposal of justice.
He said this while addressing the orientation session of the expeditious justice initiative for judges of the additional Model Criminal Trial Courts (MCTC).
The chief justice said that SC is the first apex court in the entire world which has started hearing cases online. He said that a state-of-the-art research centre has also been established at the SC building, where five to six search engines will be installed to facilitate the legal fraternity and researchers.
He said that the system would soon have access to the historical record of cases and judgments and the data would accessible to judges everywhere. Moreover, three judges and seven researchers would soon be sent to the United States to further study the system, he added.
The chief justice said that in the first phase, AI would be installed into the system to enable the judges across the country to enter the facts to receive information about similar cases and their judgments. In the next phase, judges would be able to enter the facts of their cases to get suggestions about a possible decision of the case. “The system will assess the facts and information provided to it and compare it with the data of the settled cases before suggesting a decision,” he added.
He said that if the suggestion differs from the judge’s own conclusion, the judge would be cautious about the decision he is about to make. “This would help the judges make better judgments using the information accessible to them,” he added.
Talking about the model courts, the chief justice said that the basic objective behind establishing them is to provide inexpensive and expeditious justice to the masses. He announced to add one more judge to every district and within a few months, there will model courts in the entire country. “5,800 trials were decided through model courts in 48 working days,” he added.
Justice Khosa said that there will be no justice unless there will be truthful evidence. He said that any witness who makes a false testimony will be rejected.
He said that the idea of model courts was first started in four districts, which was further expanded to seven districts. He said that six districts have zero pendency of murder and narcotics cases, while ten districts will be added next month. “We will expand this to other offences as well,” he said.
The chief justice said that national judicial policymaking committee is meeting on Monday and its agenda is to now move to the civil side. He said that civil, family, rent, and magistrate model courts are being launched simultaneously.
He also announced to establish gender-based violence courts and child courts. He said that there will be at least one such court in any district to facilitate women, where they can go and speak about their problems. “We are going to have 1,016 gender-based violence courts across Pakistan. Similarly, we are going to have child courts in every district of the country to address children’s problems,” he added.
The chief justice said that the courtroom has been specially designed, which will look like a home, where children can speak their heart without any fear.