Surprisingly, technology is increasingly taking over mundane tasks, with advances in Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools playing a pivotal part in court trials. The introduction of AI technologies such as ChatGPT can make courts efficient, thereby greatly improving justice processing times. However, even though other countries have been able to adopt and capitalize from such technologies, Pakistan is lagging behind. Nonetheless, a landmark court decision was recently made in Pakistan, for the first time in judicial history, using an AI tool called ChatGPT, when a juvenile bearing offence u/s 376(iii)/511PPC was tried for a rape case. The Anti-Rape (Investigation and Trial) Act 2021 was also taken into consideration for this trial.
Let us have a look at the questions posed by the hon’ble judge and the ChatGPT chatbot’s responses. The first question revolved around whether in Pakistan, a juvenile of 13 years was entitled to post-arrest bail. The ChatGPT responded that the Juvenile Justice System Act 2018, specifically section 12, grants bail to juveniles accused of offenses which carry a penalty of up to three years in jail, or who have already spent half the maximum penalty period under custody. However, the court’s decision is based on other factors such as the type of offense and the juvenile’s age, character and past, among other things. The section 83 of Pakistan Penal Code was discussed in the context of the juvenile’s capability to commit the offence, and it was highlighted that the presumption of the child being incapable of the crime could be rebutted in some cases.
When the age of sufficient understanding was pointed out to be 14 years in the PPC, the ChatGPT replied that the relevant section had been amended in 2016 to raise age from twelve to fourteen. Therefore, it was stated that this should be taken into consideration for deciding on the juvenile’s capability to commit the crime. Further, concerning the scenario of the offense being an attempt to commit rape, it was suggested that the court should take into account factors such as case particulars and the likelihood of the juvenile committing further offences, before deciding on bail.
This trial indicates the importance of technology in court proceedings. This example highlighted the successful use of an AI tool, ChatGPT, which would allow for speedy justice process. Adv Changezi Sandhu is a Lahore based lawyer focusing on criminal justice and international law, as well as human rights. Perhaps it could be said that this might be the start of a technology revolution whereby such innovations will improve court proceedings in the future.
