CJI Surya Kant Stresses 'Swadeshi Jurisprudence' and Careful Use of AI in Indian Courts

Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant has said that Indian courts are giving strong importance to building a "Swadeshi jurisprudence" — meaning a distinctly Indian way of legal thinking and judgment. He explained that this approach stays rooted in India's own constitutional values, institutional realities, many languages, and social conditions, instead of simply copying legal models or assumptions borrowed from other countries. (Jurisprudence means the theory and philosophy that guides how laws are understood and applied.) He made these remarks while speaking on the theme of moving from the Constitution's promise to digital reality, and on protecting justice in the age of artificial intelligence (AI) and new technology.

The CJI stressed that the Supreme Court has deliberately treated technology as a tool that supports human reasoning, not as a replacement for independent judicial thinking. He added that, alongside current technology projects, serious work is going on to study setting up an indigenous (home-grown) AI system specially for the judiciary. This means India wants its courts to use AI built around Indian needs rather than depending only on foreign technology.

He also pointed out that technology has done more than just improve access to justice. According to him, it has brought court systems from different countries into closer contact, helping form what can be called a more connected global community of judges and courts. At the same time, he praised young legal minds — district court judicial officers, government lawyers, and legal advisors working with companies — as being quick and adaptive in using new tools. He described them as an encouraging force behind the reforms in the Indian judiciary.

The CJI was clear, however, that AI can never take the place of human judgment. He noted that an AI system can read huge amounts of legal text very fast, spot patterns in court procedures, and cut down administrative steps with great precision. But, he said, it stays completely blind to the qualities that give law its real spirit — empathy, the ability to judge right from wrong ethically, and a deep understanding of context.

For exam aspirants, this development links polity and governance with current affairs on technology in the judiciary. Questions may test the meaning of "Swadeshi jurisprudence," the idea of an indigenous AI ecosystem for courts, the limits of AI versus human judgment in justice delivery, and the constitutional value of access to justice — all relevant for the Indian Polity and Governance sections of major competitive exams.