Agenda 2014: Can Big Data & Analytics clean up India’s Judicial Mess?

As India moves towards the election year we need to look around the issues that we would like as a country to address that will help India to become a better place to live. India’s judicial system is one such place which has affected all of us. The current state of our judicial system is such that it takes decades to get a verdict and even worse are many million cases that have not seen the light of the day and it is difficult to see any hope for them.

A quick look into some statistics gives us a complete picture; we have more than three crores (30 million) pending cases at various courts. To add to litigants' woes, there's also a shortage of judges as vacancies are not filled: high courts have 32% fewer judges than they should and district courts have a 21% shortfall. India has approximately 11-12 judges per million persons, as opposed to the global average of around 50 judges per million.Some years ago, a Delhi High Court judge reckoned it would take more than 450 years to clear the backlog given then judge numbers.

Judicial Reforms

In order to address the problem plaguing Indian judicial system a range of Judicial reforms have been suggested. Some of the suggestions that are there in common discussion are

      ·         Setting up of more number of fast track courts to quickly resolve the cases

·         Improvement in Judicial Procedures

·         National Litigation Policy - The Centre has formulated a National Litigation Policy to reduce the cases pending in various courts in India under the National Legal Mission to reduce average pendency time from 15 years to 3 years.

·         Setting up of Judicial Appointments Commission

Technology

However after a lot of thought that have gone into these studies on judicial reforms a lot of them have tried to de-link the relation between the judge-population ratios and have pointed to the fact that the answers to streamlining the working of the judicial system are not to be found in resolving pendency by increasing the number of judges. They lie elsewhere, some of the suggestions that they have given are listed above. There seems to however one very critical factor missed by all studies done and that is the Technology factor. It must have found a mention somewhere here and there but no one goes into the detail of how exactly India can use its huge Information Technology capabilities to clear the mess in its judicial system. The answer may however be there in how to use make the correct use of Big data and analytics capabilities.

Big Data & Analytics

Big Data’ is a popular term used to the recent explosion in data, which is fuelled in particular by the ubiquity of the Internet and smartphones. Walking to the bus stop, writing a movie review, tweeting and liking something on Facebook are all common informal data streams. Information of all kinds is produced daily on an unimaginable scale. Conventional data conjures up ideas of surveys and research. The idea is to use this unprecedented amount of information to innovate and change our world. Big Data presents the opportunity to avoid troublesome issues causation, simply looking for correlations in the data to better understand our world. This shift represents one of the most fundamental changes to our society in recent years. Historically, we have been restricted by lack of information, whereas now we have abundance.

However, this data is no good without anything to make sense of it. This is where algorithms step in to frolic in massive data sets. The intelligent extrapolation from large amounts of data can be used to make sense of our world. Using analytics, correlations can help to predict earthquakes, divorce, elections, better allocate resources, optimize sporting endeavors, and revolutionize healthcare provision and countless other uses.

The question is whether this new explosion in data could provide a backdrop to a fundamental change in law. The probable answer is Yes, Big data works with huge volume of data and as I just mentioned above we have millions of resolved and pending cases. Therefore the technology that can be used to predict election results, can be used in medical transcription can definitely be used in the field of law.

Clinical v Mechanical Prediction

An article by Darragh Hyland and Owen Collins “Future of law” gives us an insight into this whole question. Lawyers are often asked to provide predictions. When it comes to prediction, there are essentially two possibilities available.

First -The clinical method. ‘From my experience and in my opinion, it is likely that you have a good/bad case.’ This method of handling data is informal and subjective. It is the method that prevails today. The legal expert determines from his opinion, experience and expertise the most likely outcome of the case before him.

The second approach is known as mechanical or actuarial prediction. With this method, we look to statistical means of prediction. The opinion of the lawyer is irrelevant in this context. Rather, the outcome is predicted by following an analysis of patterns ensconced in previously acquired case law and general legal data.

If you think this mechanical method sounds inflexible and entirely robotic, you are not alone. However, empirical research has consistently and definitively proven this type of prediction to be superior to clinical prediction. For our actuarial prediction we look for as large a data set as possible. This data would tell us about cases and how they were decided. More data means a better chance to find correlations.

Application Area

India should be seriously looking to explore this option and more discussions are required to identify the level till which this technology be used to help aid our judicial system. While some may argue that this should be limited to be used only for lawyers or law firms I see it having a role even on the desk of the judges at least in the lower courts. My argument stems in the fact that most of the court cases in the lower court are more about judicial procedures and the application of correct laws for a particular case. Say for e.g. take the case of thousands of pending accidental claims cases which usually takes 6-7 years to get a verdict however if we look closely into the case details we will see that it is investigation by the police (which gets ready within in matter of weeks) that remain as the most conclusive piece of document on which the judgment will be based. What if this assumption is verified by an analytic system which across millions of cases in the past is able to tell the judge and the lawyers that the party against which the investigation report was based lost the case in a majority number of times? Will the party who is supposed to lose the case will still spend a considerable amount of time and money on such a losing case?

The way Indian judiciary works we have lower courts, high courts and Supreme Court. It is however left to high courts and supreme courts to interpret the constitution and it is only there where a huge expertise of the constitution however at the lower court level big data and analytics can prove to be a major helping hand for judges, lawyers and the parties in the dispute. Analytics may be able to guide parties in dispute even before they come to the courts about their chances of winning or losing a case. It may also show the variation for a case won against all the odds as what were the extra pieces of evidence or legal data that were invoked in such a case.

Question of Quality – Judicial accountability

On the question of quality we need to look into perspective, to reduce the number of pending cases a huge number of fast track courts were set up. More than 1,000 fast track courts have disposed of more than three million cases in past few years however in order to achieve quick resolution did they compromised on quality ? Hasty trials raise fears of possible miscarriages of justice. But what if the fast track courts were given a helping hand in the form of big data technology where the judges took a leaf out of millions of similar cases to arrive to a quick judgment, definitely this will improve the quality of the judgment.
The technology may even flag a possible judgment as against the popular predictable judgment which happens a lot in cases being fought for the poor people. The judges may then have to give an extra explanation as why did they choose to give a judgment against the normal sense. While technology may not be binding it will introduce accountability in the system as the system will question on the wisdom of the judges. This may come as an extra benefit for the use of technology.

Roadmap for Future

What is suggested here is however bound to disrupt the way we see judicial system as of today but predictive coding is a disruptive innovation that will change how law is practiced. The magnitude of the problem gives us an opportunity where we can apply technology to the problem and come up with a totally innovative way to address this problem. Increasing the number of judges by too big a count is not the answer to our problems and it will create even more problems to deal with.

However even if we look to choose to adopt the technology there has to be ground work done, instant digitalization of our huge amount of legal data records will be the first step, so that the same information could be used to produce a pattern ( it is in addition to all the Judicial reforms suggestions mentioned above). Again this will require some funding, can this be done by private corporations? Again a different way of looking at problem but then if corporates are allowed to come in the judicial system will it not do good for the complete industry? We already have LPO’s doing similar kind of work being outsourced from outside can’t that strength be used to deliver things for our own country and in turn generate jobs and deliver quick justice. Will we be able to move in this direction? All I can say is that the time is ripe to start this debate.

Laughing stocks of world: the sound gets deafening

It was just a few months back when the usual reticent prime minister of India said that the world is laughing at us; it was said in context of disruption of parliament by the opposition. However ever since that comment we have been forced to think again and again that is the world actually laughing at us and if yes then why are they laughing?

From the events that have unfolded in the last decade when Prime Minister ManMohan Singh has been in power the world may have looked at India with losing faith, amusement and disbelief at the same time. Definitely Mr. Singh didn’t look at the past record of his government in last 9 years else he may have realized that the world is indeed laughing at us but it is him who has made the country a laughing stock.

Did the prime minister who was once hailed as economist listened to what the time magazine had to say about his achievements, or how did they rate his tenure in one word as “Underachiever” (ohh yes his men shouted this as an internal affair of this country, only if this was a visa call for Mr. Modi they would have thought otherwise).Only if he could have heard what the common man of this country is saying we would have posed some questions to him?

 For e.g. did the world had a right to laugh at us when we could not even conduct a proper common wealth game when countries around us can host successful Olympics? Or did they had the liberty to laugh when A Raja mislead our innocent PM to loot the country of 1.86 lakh crores and Kapil Sibal ji had a zero loss theory to suggest to the mango people of this country?

Did he himself have a laugh when our growth rates halts to near zero and budget deficit reaches unmanageable heights with the economist Prime Minister running the country? From a surplus balance of payment between 2001-02 and 2003-04 to CAD equivalent to around 5% of GDP, from 2008 when our foreign exchange reserves, which were sufficient to finance 3 years of imports, we are now hardly capable to pay for only six months imports. Or did he manage to laugh when his ministers were caught red handed checking the English grammar of CBI’s report? Did he laughed the night when the Lokpal bill was conspired to be dropped at parliament in midnight and the country was fooled? My sense of humor is quite crude and unfortunately I felt like crying when I recall these things?

And then our external affairs minister whom we saw on TV roaring like a lion and threatening a person asking details of his NGO talking the language of meek and his sound so weak? Where do the bravo and the macho men of congress leave their masculinity when they dealt with china? From people on top of their voice to all of a sudden we saw men in their feminine side advertising a face cream which will clear the intrusion on the face of mother India, I am sure you must had a good laugh on this and if not then laugh out soon because this time the Chinese will had the last laugh. It’s funny to know that we need an army on which we spend 100’s of billion every year when what we could have achieved was just a face cream? It was a shameful surrender that we did in front of the Chinese and retreated back from our own territory in order cajole them to go back to the LAC.

And now the external affairs goes a step ahead and justifies the snooping program by the United States govt, he suggests that it is indeed helpful for anti-terrorism work. I wonder what a humorous day they might have had in the States listening to what our External affairs minister said. For last 9 years we have hardly done anything against terrorism or terrorist and have made some of the most disgusting political motivated moves of suggesting that terrorist such as Ishrat Jahan were indeed innocent people. We have failed to get any kind of access to David Headley from the United States and in fact what use we will have having his access when what he said is we don’t want to believe but then we support snooping by US for anti-terror help. Isn’t this amusing that even Europe which is so close to USA mind being snooped but we don’t mind that. Can any self-respecting nation say what Mr. Khurshid said?

Moving to the comedy of errors the next in list is the recent Jet-Etihad deal and the bilateral agreement with UAE, do you find it amusing that just a week earlier you were in support of this deal and now papers are leaked in media saying that you acted on the advice of your top four minsters? The world finds it funny that you make a decision on one day and then just go back and forth defending and accepting, god please it is so confusing. Either you are at the helm of this country so you accept what you did or else its time you go back home. I was watching a television debate on how your own civil aviation minister suggests that deal can go only after your approval and how the other members in the debate were having good laugh. And the congress party which must have send all his top shots to defend a private person (Mr. Vadra’s ) land deal was missing defending our PM having a relook at the deal.

Our soldiers head were beheaded and your minister held a biryani party for the offending nation PM and then an innocent was hammered in the Pakistani jail and there was hardly anything you could do , didn’t even host a biryani party this time as the Pak PM was not around here , maybe we can do it sometime later.

And the parliamentary democracy that you were so worried about never had a PM as weak and as indecisive as you. What the world must be thinking about us when they realize that it is not you but then an extra constitutional body called the NAC is what runs this govt. One by one this govt has belittled all constitutional bodies, have you ever had a laugh on any one of them. The list of comedy goes long in your tenure and there are numerous episodes I forget to mention which we will definitely recall when we go to vote in 2013-2014 but hope you had a good laugh on all of them till then. My advice : Stop worrying about the world  and take some actions so that the world can have less humor on our expense , that’s not the destiny that we are destined to, we have a far greater future than what your nervous nerves can think of.