A Supreme court bench comprising Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant, Justice B.V. Nagarathna and Justice  Joymalya Bagchi, expressed concern over petitions being drafted using Artificial Intelligence that allegedly contained fabricated case citations.The issue arose before the Supreme Court during the hearing of a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by academician Roop Rekha Verma, which sought guidelines to regulate political speeches.

Although the PIL dealt with a different subject, the Bench used the opportunity to address what it described as an alarming trend increasingly appearing in court filings.While discussing this concern during the hearing, the judges highlighted recent instances noticed in court proceedings.

Fake Case ‘Mercy v. Mankind’ Cited In Court:
Chief Justice Surya Kant noted,"We are alarmed to reflect now- some of the lawyers have started AI to draft. It is absolutely uncalled for,". Justice Nagarathna further stated that she recently came across a citation "Mercy v. Mankind", which never existed.

The Chief Justice of India referred to a similar incident that had occurred in the Court of Justice Dipankar Datta. “Not one, series of such judgements were cited,” CJI observed.

Justice Joymalya Bagchi expressed concern that the quality of legal drafting has declined in recent times. He observed that many Special Leave Petitions today are mostly compilations of extracted portions from judgments. Reflecting on an earlier era of advocacy, he remarked that stalwarts such as Senior Advocate Ashok Kumar Sen showed excellence in drafting, with pleadings that were precise, concise, and original.

Fake Quotations From Real Judgments:

Justice B.V. Nagarathna also pointed out a related issue. She noted that in some cases the citation of a judgment may be correct, but fabricated quotations are attributed to it. She said such practices create extra work for the judiciary because judges then have to verify whether the quoted portions are genuine.

She had also raised the same concern about the growing practice of citing fake quotations before the court.

It may also be noted that the Bombay High Court recently imposed costs on a litigant for relying on AI-generated citations that were found to be fabricated, highlighting the growing concern of courts over the misuse of artificial intelligence in legal pleadings.

Case Details: ROOP REKHA VERMA AND ORS. Versus UNION OF INDIA AND ORS. W.P.(C) No. 199/2026