Gandhinagar, Apr 10 (PTI) Gujarat Police have developed a first-of-its-kind artificial intelligence tool ‘NARIT’ that can assess the strengths and weaknesses of narcotics cases, and provide real-time legal guidance to investigators to ensure higher conviction rates, officials said on Friday.
Designed to make investigations watertight, ‘NARIT’ (Narcotics Analysis & RAG-based Investigation Tool) can even predict courtroom arguments and offer rebuttals based on judgments from high courts and the Supreme Court in cases registered under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, they said.
It is a Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG)-based system designed to assist law enforcement agencies in handling complex narcotics cases, an official release stated.
Abhay Soni, Superintendent of Police (SP), Western Railway, Vadodara, noted that investigations were earlier handled only by specialised police staff, which caused workload and administrative delays.
The application will act as a force multiplier by leveraging the latest technology, enabling every investigating officer to conduct proper, procedure-compliant investigations and improving the conviction rate in NDPS cases, he said.
The tool, developed by Western Railway police, Vadodara division, in collaboration with a Mumbai-based AI startup, was conceptualised under the guidance of Director General of Police (DGP) K L N Rao and Surat City Police Commissioner Anupam Singh Gehlot, and was initiated by SP Abhay Soni, the release said.
The police need to upload a first information report (FIR) into the application, which will generate an analysis report based on its content, assessing the strengths and weaknesses of the case and suggesting legal remedies.
The technology will provide comprehensive guidance to police personnel in NDPS cases by offering inputs based on judgments of high courts and the Supreme Court, ensuring legal procedural compliance, identifying weaknesses in an FIR from a legal perspective, outlining the dos and don’ts, preparing an investigation plan, and providing an evidence checklist, it said.
The application will help investigating officers avoid procedural lapses in NDPS cases, it added.
The tool can even predict courtroom-level defence arguments and offer rebuttals based on historical case law from the HCs and the Supreme Court, it added.
The Gujarat government, under the leadership of Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel and Deputy Chief Minister Harsh Sanghavi, has adopted a “zero tolerance” policy towards narcotics-related crimes and strengthened the police department to effectively deal with them, it added.
“We have adopted a zero tolerance policy towards narcotics-related crimes and will leave no stone unturned — from registering cases to securing convictions — by using all available tools, including AI,” Sanghavi said.
SP Soni pointed out that the application has been developed and trained using historical cases from the HCs and the Supreme Court related to bail and trial in NDPS cases, the bare acts of BNS, BNSS, BSA, the NDPS Act, 1985, as well as government guidelines and circulars related to NDPS, and hence, the probability of hallucinations is minimal and procedural accuracy will be high.
“The key challenge in the investigation of NDPS cases is procedural compliance. We have seen in the past that, despite strong evidence, the accused often benefit from gaps in investigation procedures, resulting in acquittal,” officials said.
The application will provide a comprehensive report to every investigating officer, who can refer to it while making final decisions, and it will also help prevent procedural gaps, improve the quality of investigations, and ultimately enhance the conviction rate in NDPS cases, they said.
Any rank of police staff can operate the tool, and its easy handling ensures faster adoption of new technology.
The application follows the recent guidelines of the Gujarat High Court on the use of AI and is classified as a private AI system developed specifically for the Gujarat Police, and is not accessible to the general public, the release stated. PTI KVM PD ARU
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