India, Dec. 14 -- Sri Lankan Chief Justice Padman Surasena, who was on a three-day official visit to India, spoke to HT on a wide range of issues, including the shared constitutional traditions of India and Sri Lanka, the need to revive judicial engagement among South Asian countries, the adoption of artificial intelligence and mediation in courts, and the challenges of protecting liberty and access to justice in modern constitutional democracies. Edited excerpts:

Both India and Sri Lanka draw from deep common law traditions layered with rich local jurisprudence. From your interactions here, what aspects of the Indian judicial system resonate most closely with Sri Lanka's own legal architecture?

This is a difficult question to answer be...