Why This Matters on the Sessions Bench
A Sessions Judge handles some of the heaviest files in the
district judiciary: murder trials, NDPS and POCSO cases, sessions appeals,
criminal revisions, and a steady stream of bail applications. Each file brings
a charge-sheet, the FIR, statements under Section 180 BNSS (old Section 161
CrPC), the spot and seizure panchanamas, medical and post-mortem reports, the
FSL report, depositions and the arguments of both sides.
The real work lies not in reading these papers but in connecting them. You compare what PW-3 said in the witness box with what he told the police, set the post-mortem injuries against the eyewitness account, and check the seizure date against the chain of custody of the sample. On paper this means flags, slips and constant flipping between pages. LiquidText, a reading and annotation app for iPad (and also for Mac, Windows and iPhone), is built for exactly this kind of cross-document comparison.
LiquidText gives you a document on one side of the screen and a
blank "workspace" on the other. You select any passage, drag it to
the workspace as an excerpt, and the excerpt stays linked to its source: tap it
and the original page opens. You can pinch a long document together to view two
distant pages side by side, link excerpts from different documents, write notes
by hand with the Apple Pencil, and export everything as a PDF or Word outline.
For a judge, the workspace becomes a digital bench note in which
every proposition is tied to the exact page of the record.
Current Position: Availability, Versions and
Price (October 2026)
Where to
get it. Download it from the App
Store on the iPad. The App Library only shows apps already installed. Search
for "LiquidText" and select the app by LiquidText, Inc. Its listing
reads "Free · In-App Purchases" (App Store India).
System
requirement. You need iPadOS 17.6 or
later; the Mac version needs macOS 13.5 or later (App Store India). Check your version under Settings → General → About.
Avoid the
wrong listing. "LiquidText
Prepaid" (₹7,900) is a separate listing meant for Apple's Volume Purchase
Program used by institutions (App Store – LiquidText Prepaid). An individual judge should install the ordinary free app.
|
Plan |
What you get |
Indicative Indian App Store price |
|
Basic (free) |
Reader, highlighting, excerpts, workspace, note export; one
document at a time; no inking (Capterra) |
Free |
|
Pro (one-time) |
Adds inking, multi-document projects, cross-document links,
tagging, multiple workspaces, real-time OCR (LiquidText
pricing) |
₹6,900–₹7,900 ("Pro II") (App Store India) |
|
LIVE (subscription) |
Everything in Pro plus cloud sync, continuous backup, 1 GB
project storage, all platforms (LiquidText
pricing) |
₹549/month or ₹5,499/year (App Store India) |
|
LIVE Unlimited |
Unlimited storage and extra features |
₹8,499/year (App Store India) |
LiquidText offers a one-week free trial of any LIVE subscription (LiquidText pricing). The app also sells "AI credits" as an in-app purchase
(App Store); read the
caution on AI features below before using them. Prices change, so confirm on
the App Store before you buy.
Recommendation
for a Sessions Judge. Start with
the free Basic plan to learn the interface on a single judgment or deposition.
Once comfortable, buy the one-time Pro upgrade. It unlocks the features you
need for a trial file (multiple documents in one project, Pencil inking and
OCR) without placing court papers on a third-party cloud. Choose LIVE only if
you need to sync across devices and your High Court's IT policy permits cloud
storage.
Hardware. An iPad Air or iPad Pro in the 13-inch size shows an A4 page
close to actual size. An Apple Pencil is essential for inking. A matte
"paper-feel" screen protector makes long reading sessions easier on
the eyes.
Getting the
record into the iPad.
1.
Obtain the
record as PDFs: scanned charge-sheets, certified copies, e-filed bail
applications, or downloads from the eCourts/CIS system where your court allows
this.
2.
Run OCR on
scanned papers. Pro does this in real time; alternatively, make the PDF
searchable beforehand. Without OCR, pinch-search will not find words in a
scanned panchanama.
3.
Name the
files consistently, e.g. SC-45-2025_ChargeSheet.pdf and SC-45-2025_PW1-Deposition.pdf.
4.
Create one
LiquidText project per case and import all its documents into it.
Workflows for the Sessions Court
1. Bail Applications (Sections 480 and 483 BNSS)
· Import the application, the FIR and the key case-diary extracts or
charge-sheet into one project.
· Drag excerpts for each bail consideration into the workspace:
nature and gravity of the accusation, role attributed to the applicant, the
evidence against him, criminal antecedents, risk of absconding or tampering,
and period of custody.
· Make a separate column for any statutory bar, such as Section 37
of the NDPS Act (where you examine whether the quantity is commercial and
whether the twin conditions are met), or for special-statute requirements under
the UAPA or POCSO.
· Result: a one-screen note you can glance at during oral arguments,
with every point linked to its page.
2. Sessions Trial: Marshalling the Evidence
This is where LiquidText earns its cost.
· A witness
grid. Create a workspace for each
important witness. Place excerpts from the examination-in-chief,
cross-examination and police statement side by side.
· Contradictions
and omissions. Link the police statement
passage to the deposition passage that contradicts it, so the material for the
Section 148 BSA (old Section 145 Evidence Act) and contradiction analysis is
visible at once.
· Medical
against ocular evidence. Excerpt
the post-mortem injuries (nature, weapon, time since death) and link them to
the eyewitness descriptions. Where they diverge, mark it in red ink.
· Chain of
custody. In NDPS cases, build a
timeline of seizure, sampling, sealing, malkhana entry, dispatch to the FSL and
the FSL report. Gaps in the chain show up as visible breaks.
· Electronic
evidence. Flag whether the
certificate under Section 63 BSA (old Section 65B) exists and whether it is in
proper form.
· Statement
of the accused. Use the witness grid to
frame the incriminating circumstances you must put to the accused under Section
351 BNSS (old Section 313 CrPC). This reduces the risk of omitting a
circumstance.
3. Criminal Appeals and Revisions
· Import the impugned judgment, the record and the grounds of
appeal.
· Pinch the impugned judgment so the trial court's finding sits next
to the evidence it relied on.
· Use a separate workspace for each ground of appeal, with linked
excerpts from the record. This becomes the frame of the appellate judgment.
· Keep a standing "Precedent Library" project holding
leading Supreme Court and High Court judgments on recurring issues:
circumstantial evidence, dying declarations, child witnesses, NDPS compliance
and bail principles.
· Excerpt the ratio paragraphs with citations and tag them by topic.
When writing a judgment, drag the relevant ratio into the case workspace
instead of searching again.
· Before citing a precedent, check its current status (whether it
has been overruled, distinguished or referred to a larger Bench) in a reliable
law database.
· Arrange the workspace in the order the judgment will follow:
facts, points for determination, the evidence on each point, reasons and
finding.
· Export the workspace as a Word outline, move it to your court
computer through an approved channel, and draft there.
· Every excerpt carries its page reference, so citing paragraph and
page numbers of the record becomes quick and accurate.
· Use a fixed colour code: yellow for prosecution evidence, blue for
the defence, red for contradictions, green for admissions.
· Use the Pencil for margin notes such as "Contra – PW2 para
7" or "Omission."
· At the end of each hearing day, review the workspace for five
minutes and record what remains to be done.
· Export a PDF of the final bench note and keep it with the case
file as your working record.
Confidentiality, Security and Ethics:
Non-Negotiable
A judge's working notes and the case record are confidential.
Before using any app for them:
1.
Follow your High Court's IT and data policy. Where it restricts private cloud storage of judicial records, use
LiquidText locally (Basic or Pro) without cloud sync.
2.
Protect sensitive identities. POCSO, rape and juvenile records require particular care because
the law protects the identity of victims and children. Keep such files only on
the device, encrypted, and delete them when the matter ends.
3.
Secure the device. Use a
strong passcode with Face ID or Touch ID, keep iPadOS updated, and enable Find
My iPad so the device can be wiped remotely if lost.
4.
Treat AI features with caution. The app sells AI credits. Do not upload confidential case
material to any AI feature unless your institution has approved it. Never let
AI-generated summaries or answers replace your own reading of the record. The
decision and the reasons must remain the judge's own.
5.
Follow data-protection principles. Collect and retain only what you need, and delete it once the
purpose is served, in keeping with the spirit of the Digital Personal Data
Protection Act, 2023.
6.
Keep your own record. Your
exported bench note is a working aid. The certified record remains the
authority.
· [ ] iPad updated to iPadOS 17.6 or later
· [ ] Free LiquidText installed (not the "Prepaid"
listing)
· [ ] Practise on one judgment using the free Basic plan
· [ ] Upgrade to Pro (one-time) for trial work
· [ ] Cloud sync off unless your High Court policy permits it
· [ ] One project per case; OCR run on scanned papers
· [ ] Colour code and tags fixed
· [ ] Bench note exported to Word or PDF for drafting
LiquidText does not decide cases; the judge does. What it changes
is the work around the decision. The record is read more closely,
contradictions are easier to catch, and the reasons in the judgment link back
to the exact page of the evidence. For a Sessions Judge carrying heavy trial
and bail work, used within the limits of confidentiality and institutional
policy, it can make the digital bench both faster and more careful.
Note: Prices and features are as shown on the App Store and the
LiquidText website in October 2026 and may change. This article is for
professional guidance only and does not endorse any product.
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