CJI Chandrachud talks to ‘AI lawyer’; asks about death penalty

In a first-of-its-kind interaction, Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud on Thursday talked to an 'AI lawyer' in the National Judicial Museum and Archive (NJMA) on the Supreme Court premises.

CJI Chandrachud – who is demitting office on November 10 -- asked the ‘AI lawyer’ if the death penalty was constitutional in India.

“Yes, the death penalty is constitutional in India. It is reserved for the rarest of rare cases as determined by the Supreme Court where the crime is exceptionally heinous and warrants such a punishment,” the ‘AI lawyer’ responded rather confidently, much to the amusement of the CJI and fellow Supreme Court judges and lawyers who listened to the answer attentively.

Earlier, the CJI inaugurated the National Judicial Museum and Archive. The museum has been set up in the vacant space where the Old Judges' Library used to function.

The Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) and the Supreme Court Advocates-on-Record Association (SCAORA) boycotted the event.

Former SCBA president and senior advocate Vikas Singh wrote to CJI Chandrachud raising strong objection to the Supreme Court’s decision to convert the old judges' library into a public museum. Singh expressed “deep pain and anguish” over infrastructure decisions that, according to him, have overlooked the pressing needs of the legal fraternity.