manipur-high-court-uses-ai-in-service-case

The Manipur High Court has taken a step ahead in utilising artificial intelligence to assist in legal research, culminating a ruling in a service law case.

 

The petitioner, a member of the Village Defence Force (VDF), was disengaged without a hearing or proper inquiry following the escape of an accused from police custody.

 

This move follows the precedent set by the Punjab & Haryana High Court, the first in India to use AI for legal research before delivering judicial pronouncements.

 

Justice A Guneshwar Sharma presided over the case, which centred on the service conditions of VDF personnel. With no explanation forthcoming from government counsel regarding the procedures for disengagement, the court turned to AI tools, including Google and ChatGPT 3.5, for additional information.

 

Using ChatGPT, the court uncovered key details about the VDF.

 

Established to bolster local security and assist the police, especially in rural areas, the VDF consists of volunteers trained and equipped to protect their villages from threats such as insurgency and ethnic violence.

 

Once appointed, VDFs are assigned duty along with the police force. Despite their crucial role, there was scant information on the official service conditions for VDF members.

 

Further research led the court to an office memorandum detailing VDF service conditions and the case of Nasim Bano v. The State of Manipur & Ors [WP(C) No.209 of 2023], which addressed similar issues.

 

The petitioner in the present case had been removed from service on January 2, 2021, the same day the accused escaped custody, without being given a chance to be heard.

 

The court noted that an inquiry was conducted on January 8, 2021, resulting in minor penalties for some regular police personnel.

 

However, the petitioner received a major penalty of removal without any show cause notice or inquiry.

Justice Sharma ruled that this action violated the principles of natural justice as established in the Nasim Bano case.

 

In setting aside the removal order, Justice Sharma stated: "This Court is of the opinion that the disengagement order dated 02.01.2021 passed by the Superintendent of Police, Thoubal, is in violation of the principles of natural justice as held in the case of Nasim Bano. A judicial note is taken about the subsequent Office Memorandum dated 18.10.2022 stipulating brief service conditions of VDF personnel. In the circumstances, the impugned order dated 02.01.2021 disengaging the petitioner from the strength of Thoubal District VDF is set aside and the petitioner is restored to the strength and roll of VDF Thoubal with immediate effect."