Why PM Modi Needs To Steer AI Revolution in Justice Reform In India

The Justice Backlog lingers in India.

One of the oldest pillars of our democracy, India’s judiciary is creaking under the strain. More than 4 crore cases are pending — some for decades. Its famously known that justice delayed is justice denied. However, this delay is not only an inconvenience for applicants in line today. It affects generations yet to be born, and reflects the kind of society that our children and grandchildren will enter.

We are standing at a crossroad — and what we need now is not just technology but transformational leadership. Someone who sees the bigger picture. A leader such as Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who has already rewritten the book on what’s possible in governance through digital inclusion, financial reform and infrastructure. Today, the message is clear: spearhead the revolution in legal reform with AI.

Don’t Think of the A.I. Revolution as a War of Intelligence. It’s a War of Access AI doesn’t need to be perfect to be useful. The key achievement of ChatGPT and similar tools isn’t their intelligence, but their usability. They enable ordinary people to wield powerful tools — via a simple chat box.

Just as UPI transformed the way Indians transact, AI can revolutionise the way we access justice:

• AI Chatbots can generate FAQs in Regional Languages.
• AI assistants that summarize complex case histories.
• It can help in smart triaging of cases to prioritise urgency.
• Its a tools to help judges draft orders.

This isn’t science fiction — it’s already in play in other sectors then the question becomes: Why not in the courts?

We Can’t Wait for Perfection. A lot of people say that AI still gets stuff wrong — and they are correct. But we forget that manual systems are all too rife with inefficiencies and human errors.

The better question is:

What are the costs of not adopting AI?

If AI can save a judge even 10–20% of their time, that means millions of hours saved in the judiciary. The price of a few errors (with human oversight) pales in comparison to the cost of millions in legal limbo.

The approach should be Focus on Tasks, Not Roles

Will AI replace Judges or Lawyers? Of course not.

Instead, we must ask:

Which tasks in legal process can be automated versus which must remain human?

Here’s a quick framework:

Legal Task	Can AI Help?
Drafting standard orders	✅ Yes
Summarizing case documents	✅ Yes
Conducting live trials	❌ No
Making moral judgments	❌ No

AI can’t substitute for wisdom — but it can take over the mundane, allowing humans to engage in the meaningful.

Like UPI Scaled Banking, AI Can Scale Justice. India has shown the world how even the most remote villages could be connected by digital banking. Why not do the same with justice?

Imagine using AI tools in district courts, serving judges, clerks, and citizens to navigate legal complexity. That’s how we scale justice — no need to triple the number of judges overnight.

If we want to defend not just today’s citizens’ rights but those of people not yet born, we must use multipliers.

It takes audacious leadership to deliver it. Data doesn’t change the systems in place. Leaders do.

As Aadhaar, Jan Dhan and Swachh Bharat were birthed through political will — so too does judicial AI transformation need a Modi moment.

Here’s what strong leadership can set in motion:

• National Mission on AI in Justice
• Legal-tech infrastructure for each district court
• Investment in AI tools in Indian languages
• Collaboration with start-ups, law schools and the judiciary

All this is more than efficiency, it’s about re-establishing trust in the system.

The Ethical Obligation is:

• We owe it to the father who has waited 10 years for a child custody hearing.
• To the entrepreneur whose dream is entangled in a business dispute.
• To the millions of unborn children who deserve a nation where they do not need to be wealthy for justice.

We have the tools. We need the will.

India demands its next great leap — an AI-enabled judiciary.

And that leap has to be led by someone who has already demonstrated the power of bold, national transformation.

Mr. Prime Minister, will you lead us toward justice?

References & Acknowledgements

This blog draws inspiration from a talk by Professor Bharat Anand, Faculty of Business Administration at Harvard Business School, who leads initiatives on teaching and learning. His insightful keynote on the intersection of generative AI and education — delivered during a public forum on emerging technologies — helped shape the core ideas of this article.

Many of the frameworks and metaphors (e.g. “cost of error vs prediction error”, “task vs role-based automation”, “AI as an access revolution”, and the example of Ryanair) are adapted from his talk for the purpose of discussing AI’s potential in the Indian judicial system.

Key takeaways also draw from:

• Anand, B. (2023). Generative AI and the Future of Education. [Public lecture transcript].
• The Economist (2024). How AI is affecting knowledge workers. Meta-analysis summary.
• Harvard Business Publishing: Faculty Voices on Generative AI

This blog reflects a reinterpretation of those ideas in the context of Indian legal reform, with a focus on encouraging leadership-driven adoption of AI in public systems.

For any direct quotes or frameworks used, full credit goes to the original authors.