New Delhi: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) should focus its attention and efforts on crimes that truly threaten the security of the nation, its economic health, or public order, Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud said Monday while speaking at the 20th D.P. Kohli Memorial Lecture marking the agency’s Raising Day.
A big challenge, the CJI said, was that the CBI had allowed itself to “spread too thin”, as a premier agency like itself is looking at cases in which the amount involved goes as low as Rs 300.
This, he said, was a challenge as the probe agency should concentrate its attention and efforts on that class of crime which “truly threatens the security of the nation”.
“I asked a special prosecutor, is Rs 300 really worth contesting by the CBI? I think it is important for us both in the context of not just streamlining the courts, but also promoting the efficiency of the CBI and investigating agencies to pick their battles. I think we have perhaps been spreading our investigation agencies too thin over the years,” he stressed.
The CJI went on to add that allowing the investigative agencies to spread themselves too thin poses a challenge to the personnel because the number of people in the agencies is limited. “So many of the officers come on deputation. The force consists largely of officers on deputation,” he highlighted.
Furthermore, he pointed out that special CBI courts are mere “new avatars” of the existing courts, given the poor rate of disposal of cases. He emphasised that the new courts, which are “technologically efficient” and not just made to convert the existing infrastructure to fill in a “new label”, are the need of the hour if one has to change the face of the administration of justice.
“The special courts that are created to man CBI cases are really just new avatars of the existing courts. When we seek to create special courts for CBI, as part of new legislation being enacted by Parliament, we must ensure that they truly set up new courts,” he said.
Talking about the poor disposal of cases, Chandrachud said that the best judges are assigned to the CBI courts because the cases are so sensitive. However, many of them complain that because of the slow nature of the disposal, most of them lag in comparison to their peers in other parts of the judiciary and their “own career advancement becomes an issue”.
The CJI went on to highlight that criminal investigations must be synchronised with court procedures for effective and time-bound prosecutions.
“To prosecute or defend in a CBI case is no easy task. Because of the nature of the investigation undertaken by the CBI, the record and documentary evidence are bulky and complicated. Many scientific and field-specific expert witnesses require scrutiny. This leaves the courts with a herculean task of de-complexification of the case and ensuring that the parameters of the law are followed to dispense justice,” he said.
“The challenge now lies in disposing of CBI cases in a time-bound manner, despite the enormous challenges of complexification, pendency, and examination of witnesses,” he added.
The CJI highlighted that the CBI deals with crimes that impact the “national economic health” and their speedy disposal is imperative for maintaining public confidence and preventing corruption in public life.
Delay in prosecutions, he said, is one of the common and grave concerns of the justice delivery mechanism, and the need of the hour is to recognise the complexity of CBI prosecutions and leverage technology to avoid delays. “Our challenges today and tomorrow require an institutional commitment; a commitment which requires dedicated finance to upgrade infrastructure, synergies between different wings of the criminal justice administration; and calibrated strategies to train all the personnel to understand the rapid changes in the environment.”
According to him, a multipronged approach must be adopted to integrate technology with court procedures to obviate the delays caused in CBI prosecutions. This, he said, “would ensure that the severity of accusation coupled with excessive delays in CBI courts do not translate to a presumption of guilt.”
‘Re-engineering, forming multidisciplinary teams’
For an effective crackdown on sophisticated criminal networks, re-engineering is a must, Chandrachud said, adding that the CBI can be upgraded by reassessing the challenges of our changing times, and by making structural reforms.
“To deal with these innovations in criminal activities, we must rethink our investigative framework,” he emphasised.
He added that the practice of allocating a case to an investigative officer and their local team must be relooked to meet the challenges of sophisticated criminal networks. “We can do this by completely re-engineering the national response to crime and our approach to criminal investigation by forming multidisciplinary teams consisting of law enforcement officers and domain experts, including data analysts.”
These teams would draw from the expertise of their members and refine their investigative work, he added.
“The CBI can be upgraded by reassessing the challenges of our changing times and by making structural reforms in the agency. Criminal investigation is in other words not just about crime. It needs a robust understanding of new structures of business, and finance together with the evolving challenges to security, which are faced by the nation,” he explained.
‘Ensure benefits of digitisation equitably distributed’
Chandrachud noted that the imperative to digitise criminal processes received serious attention from events, such as the Covid-19 pandemic.
The global health crisis, he said, served as a stark reminder of the necessity to ensure seamless connectivity within the criminal justice system — prompting the widespread adoption of virtual courts and e-registries.
However, while digital transformation increases efficiency and accessibility, it also runs the risk of excluding individuals without internet access or technological proficiency, which remains a significant portion of India’s population, he highlighted.
“There is a pressing need to ensure that the benefits of digitisation are equitably distributed and that mechanisms are in place to address the digital divide,” he said.
According to him, particular attention must be paid to the digitalisation of foundational processes, such as the filing of FIRs, to streamline and trace back the sequence of events and enhance transparency from the outset.
‘AI must be used within ethical boundaries’
Talking about the role of artificial intelligence (AI), the CJI stressed that it is a “game changer, which can revolutionise criminal investigations but one must acknowledge that AI is not free of ‘prejudice and biases’ and may lead to ‘community-based profiling of marginalised social groups as having more crimes’”.
“Artificial intelligence stands out as a game-changer in revolutionising criminal investigations. By leveraging AI algorithms, law enforcement agencies, like the CBI, can analyse vast amounts of data rapidly, identifying trends, anomalies, and potential leads with unprecedented accuracy,” he said.
Giving an example of a human trafficking case, Chandrachud said that AI-powered algorithms can analyse social media data to identify patterns of suspicious behaviour and communication among potential perpetrators.
Just like in one case where an identification tool has empowered law enforcement to identify over 17,000 children who have fallen victim to sex trafficking, resulting in a 63 percent reduction in investigation time, he highlighted.
“This not only expedited the investigation process but also helped law enforcement agencies dismantle trafficking networks and rescue victims. By leveraging AI technology, law enforcement was able to sift through vast amounts of data quickly and efficiently, pinpointing critical leads and actionable intelligence that might have otherwise gone unnoticed,” he said.
Furthermore, the CJI said, AI aids in the de-complexification of crimes — breaking down intricate cases into manageable components for analysis and resolution.
“This reminds me of a scene in the movie ‘Minority Report’ where AI is depicted as a tool for predicting future crimes, allowing law enforcement to intervene before they occur. In this futuristic society, the PreCrime Unit utilises a trio of psychics, known as ‘precogs,’ to foresee crimes before they happen,” he mentioned.
“These visions of future crimes are then analysed by sophisticated AI algorithms, which determine the likelihood and location of each predicted offence…While this portrayal may seem like pure science fiction, it reflects real-world efforts in predictive policing,” he said.
According to the CJI, AI, however, is not free of prejudice and biases.
“Because of skewed data, AI may lead to community-based profiling of marginalised social groups as having more crimes. This may not only abuse the privacy rights of individuals but also lead to disproportionate targeting of social groups,” he warned, adding, “AI is a gift which must only be wielded within ethical boundaries.”
“Across various jurisdictions worldwide, law enforcement agencies are harnessing the power of AI and data analytics to forecast criminal activity and allocate resources,” he added.
(Edited by Richa Mishra)
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