{"id":35194,"date":"2026-11-03T11:42:25","date_gmt":"2026-11-03T11:42:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.legalserviceindia.com\/Legal-Articles\/?p=35194"},"modified":"2026-11-03T11:47:54","modified_gmt":"2026-11-03T11:47:54","slug":"authenticity-at-risk-loopholes-in-the-handling-of-digital-evidence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.legalserviceindia.com\/Legal-Articles\/authenticity-at-risk-loopholes-in-the-handling-of-digital-evidence\/","title":{"rendered":"Authenticity at Risk: Loopholes in the Handling of Digital Evidence"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h2 id=\"h-i-introduction-the-myth-of-objective-data\" class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"I_Introduction_The_Myth_of_Objective_Data\"><\/span>I. Introduction: The Myth of Objective Data<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A tempting myth of electronic evidence presentation is inherent to the approach of treating e-data in courts: it is biased as binary. One can stage a photograph, lie as a witness and forge a document. But a file date, a GPS positioning, a server journal these are not representations of facts, they are facts. This supposition is false, and it has practical implications upon accusers and victims, as well as upon the fairness of trials.<\/p><div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_89 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-grey ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<div class=\"ez-toc-title-container\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<span class=\"ez-toc-title-toggle\"><a href=\"#\" class=\"ez-toc-pull-right ez-toc-btn ez-toc-btn-xs ez-toc-btn-default ez-toc-toggle\" aria-label=\"Toggle Table of Content\"><span class=\"ez-toc-js-icon-con\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #0c0c0c;color:#0c0c0c\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #0c0c0c;color:#0c0c0c\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/www.legalserviceindia.com\/Legal-Articles\/authenticity-at-risk-loopholes-in-the-handling-of-digital-evidence\/#I_Introduction_The_Myth_of_Objective_Data\" >I. Introduction: The Myth of Objective Data<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/www.legalserviceindia.com\/Legal-Articles\/authenticity-at-risk-loopholes-in-the-handling-of-digital-evidence\/#II_The_Forensic_Acquisition_Problem_Contamination_Before_the_Case_Begins\" >II. The Forensic Acquisition Problem: Contamination Before the Case Begins<\/a><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-3' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/www.legalserviceindia.com\/Legal-Articles\/authenticity-at-risk-loopholes-in-the-handling-of-digital-evidence\/#II1_The_Write-Blocker_Gap\" >II.1 The Write-Blocker Gap<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/www.legalserviceindia.com\/Legal-Articles\/authenticity-at-risk-loopholes-in-the-handling-of-digital-evidence\/#II2_Hash_Verification_A_Standard_Ignored_in_Practice\" >II.2 Hash Verification: A Standard Ignored in Practice<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-5\" href=\"https:\/\/www.legalserviceindia.com\/Legal-Articles\/authenticity-at-risk-loopholes-in-the-handling-of-digital-evidence\/#III_Chain_of_Custody_Paper_Records_in_a_Digital_World\" >III. Chain of Custody: Paper Records in a Digital World<\/a><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-3' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-6\" href=\"https:\/\/www.legalserviceindia.com\/Legal-Articles\/authenticity-at-risk-loopholes-in-the-handling-of-digital-evidence\/#III1_The_Malkhana_Problem\" >III.1 The Malkhana Problem<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-7\" href=\"https:\/\/www.legalserviceindia.com\/Legal-Articles\/authenticity-at-risk-loopholes-in-the-handling-of-digital-evidence\/#III2_The_Documentation_Deficit\" >III.2 The Documentation Deficit<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-8\" href=\"https:\/\/www.legalserviceindia.com\/Legal-Articles\/authenticity-at-risk-loopholes-in-the-handling-of-digital-evidence\/#IV_Section_65B_and_Its_Successors_The_Certificate_That_Proves_Nothing\" >IV. Section 65B and Its Successors: The Certificate That Proves Nothing<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-9\" href=\"https:\/\/www.legalserviceindia.com\/Legal-Articles\/authenticity-at-risk-loopholes-in-the-handling-of-digital-evidence\/#Conclusion_Digital_Evidence_and_the_Future_of_Indian_Evidence_Law\" >Conclusion: Digital Evidence and the Future of Indian Evidence Law<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-10\" href=\"https:\/\/www.legalserviceindia.com\/Legal-Articles\/authenticity-at-risk-loopholes-in-the-handling-of-digital-evidence\/#References\" >References<\/a><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-3' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-11\" href=\"https:\/\/www.legalserviceindia.com\/Legal-Articles\/authenticity-at-risk-loopholes-in-the-handling-of-digital-evidence\/#Indian_Evidence_Law_and_Judicial_Decisions\" >Indian Evidence Law and Judicial Decisions<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-12\" href=\"https:\/\/www.legalserviceindia.com\/Legal-Articles\/authenticity-at-risk-loopholes-in-the-handling-of-digital-evidence\/#Digital_Forensics_and_Technical_Standards\" >Digital Forensics and Technical Standards<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-13\" href=\"https:\/\/www.legalserviceindia.com\/Legal-Articles\/authenticity-at-risk-loopholes-in-the-handling-of-digital-evidence\/#International_Legal_Frameworks_and_Comparative_Standards\" >International Legal Frameworks and Comparative Standards<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-14\" href=\"https:\/\/www.legalserviceindia.com\/Legal-Articles\/authenticity-at-risk-loopholes-in-the-handling-of-digital-evidence\/#Government_Reports_and_Policy_Documents\" >Government Reports and Policy Documents<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This assumption was not broken by the migration of the Indian Evidence Act, 1872 into the BSA, 2023 because that amendment institutionalised it. With the creation of electronic records as defined by the legislature in the Sections 61- 63, the legislature made it clear that electronic records should be considered under the same footing of reliability as a notarised deed. A noble modernisation is on paper. Reliability should not be granted by law but rather achieved as a result of the process. In most criminal investigations in India, where the process has been compromised, and where primary evidence status is merely a consequence of a reduced set of procedural barriers, it is in the form of primary evidence.[1]<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It is argued that has four pressure points (1) the forensic acquisition phase, where evidence is stepping into the lab discontinuously contaminated; (2) the chain-of-custody infrastructure, which, on the other hand, has yet to be modernised with technological reality and is mostly paper-based and thus inatterable; (3) the admissibility certification regime, where human attestation has been replaced by cryptographic verification; and (4) the new terrain of virtual testimony, where procedural controls have not kept up with technological reality. In each part, it relies on published case law, on-the-job observations and on global comparative practice to demonstrate that it is not that there is no law, it is that there is no enforcement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;In a world where data can lie, justice must learn to verify.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"h-ii-the-forensic-acquisition-problem-contamination-before-the-case-begins\" class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"II_The_Forensic_Acquisition_Problem_Contamination_Before_the_Case_Begins\"><\/span>II. The Forensic Acquisition Problem: Contamination Before the Case Begins<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<h3 id=\"h-ii-1-the-write-blocker-gap\" class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"II1_The_Write-Blocker_Gap\"><\/span>II.1 The Write-Blocker Gap<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The single most consequential piece of equipment in digital forensics costs approximately \u20b915,000\u2013\u20b940,000. A hardware write-blocker prevents any write operation from reaching a storage device during acquisition, ensuring that the investigator&#8217;s act of reading the device does not modify it.[2] Without one, plugging a drive into a Windows machine will \u2014 silently and automatically \u2014 alter file access timestamps, update the Windows registry, and potentially install driver files. The drive that was just &#8216;examined&#8217; is no longer the drive that was seized.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The majority of Indian district-level cyber cells do not own a hardware write-blocker. This is not an allegation \u2014 it is evident from the forensic reports produced in sessions court proceedings, which routinely fail to disclose the acquisition method or tool used.[3] When acquisition methodology goes unrecorded, the defence has no basis to challenge it and the court has no basis to evaluate it. The evidence enters pristine on paper and potentially compromised in fact.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This gap was not created by the BSA or the BNSS \u2014 it predates both. But neither statute addresses it. The BSA&#8217;s Section 63, which allows admission of copies of electronic records,[4] says nothing about the process by which those copies must be made. The legislation assumed that technical standards would be developed downstream through executive regulation or judicial elaboration. That downstream development has not happened.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 id=\"h-ii-2-hash-verification-a-standard-ignored-in-practice\" class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"II2_Hash_Verification_A_Standard_Ignored_in_Practice\"><\/span>II.2 Hash Verification: A Standard Ignored in Practice<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In making an image of a device that has been seized, the common protocol used since the United States to the United Kingdom up to Singapore and in most jurisdiction is to make a cryptographic hash (often MD5 or SHA-256) of both the original device and the copy prepared by the forensic examiner.[5] In case of a matched plot by the hashes, the copy is mathematically the same as the original. Otherwise, they cannot be relied upon. The chain of custody adopted electronically is known as the hash.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">At any rate, the hash values are often not mentioned at all on Indian forensic reports. When they occur, they are usually produced days or weeks after the time of acquisition and by that time, the original device could have been touched many times over. This is the forensic equivalent to getting a witness to give a statement a month after what happened and passing it on as a historical account. It ought to be legalized out of court; this ought to be the real result, in most trial courts, it is none noticing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The ruling by the Supreme Court in Anvar P.V. v. P.K. Basheer, the electronic records can only be accepted with the aid of a valid Section 65B certificate attesting them as authentic and genuine.[6] What it had not put in place due to lack of equipments was what valid means technically. A certificate signed by a police officer who is unaware of what a hash function is otherwise, is, legally, a valid certificate. The form is satisfied. The substance is absent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"h-iii-chain-of-custody-paper-records-in-a-digital-world\" class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"III_Chain_of_Custody_Paper_Records_in_a_Digital_World\"><\/span>III. Chain of Custody: Paper Records in a Digital World<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<h3 id=\"h-iii-1-the-malkhana-problem\" class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"III1_The_Malkhana_Problem\"><\/span>III.1 The Malkhana Problem<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The malkhana the police evidence store represents one of the most understudied failure points in Indian criminal procedure. Physical evidence has degraded in malkhanas for generations; the system was not designed for digital media. Yet hard drives, mobile phones, USB drives, and SD cards now sit alongside firearms and blood-stained clothing in the same inadequately secured, temperature-uncontrolled rooms.[7]<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Digital storage media is highly sensitive to the environmental conditions. Strong magnetic fields may damage magnetic hard drives. There is deterioration in flash storage in high temperatures. More importantly any device that has battery charge still can never stop background processes. Unless a mobile phone is placed in a Faraday bag the moment it is seized, the phone will still communicate with cell towers, update, and access cloud services that might overwrite the data that the investigation needs above all. The solution does not involve any reform in legislation and necessitates no great spending. It involves institutional will. Such will has not always been marked out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 id=\"h-iii-2-the-documentation-deficit\" class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"III2_The_Documentation_Deficit\"><\/span>III.2 The Documentation Deficit<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In most criminal investigations in India, documentation of chain-of-custody is a register entry done in hand. An entry made usually would be: one hard disk, black colour, confiscated in alleged premises, malkhana. Absent in that field: the equipment manufacturer, the serial number, the memory storage size, the state at the time of seizure, the name of each user it might have gone through since seizure and the face serving purpose of that access.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It is not little it is the whole chain of custody. In the absence of this, a court will not be able to know whether the device that was analyzed by a forensic investigator is the same device that was seized by the accused. The defence counsel fully familiar with digital forensics know to make this case; most cannot. The outcome is that essentially weak evidence is always passed through cross-examination not because it can resist but simply that the cross-examination never takes place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A more immediate intervention that can be implemented tomorrow that is, a standardised Digital Evidence Seizure Form, based on the ACPO (Association of Chief Police Officers, UK) standard, as a price of admissibility is made judicially mandatory.[8] Courts already have the authority to impose such conditions; the Arjun Panditrao Khotkar judgment demonstrated that the Supreme Court is willing to use it.[9]<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"h-iv-section-65b-and-its-successors-the-certificate-that-proves-nothing\" class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"IV_Section_65B_and_Its_Successors_The_Certificate_That_Proves_Nothing\"><\/span>IV. Section 65B and Its Successors: The Certificate That Proves Nothing<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Section 65B certificate has been the centrepiece of Indian digital evidence law since the Information Technology (Amendment) Act, 2008. The Anvar P.V. and Arjun Panditrao decisions clarified its necessity.[10] The BSA&#8217;s successor provisions preserve its logic. The problem is not the requirement \u2014 it is the certificate&#8217;s inability to actually verify what it purports to verify.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A Section 65B certificate requires an authorised person to certify that the electronic record was produced by a computer that was &#8220;used regularly&#8221; during the relevant period and that the record was produced in the course of the computer&#8217;s &#8220;ordinary use.&#8221; These are statements about operational context, not about forensic integrity. They say nothing about whether the record was modified after production, whether the computer&#8217;s clock was accurate, whether the storage medium was write-protected during extraction, or whether the hash of the extracted file matches the hash of the original. Courts have consistently held that non-compliance with this procedural framework is fatal to admissibility,[11] yet the technical content of &#8216;compliance&#8217; remains dangerously undefined.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Courts in the United States have addressed this gap through Federal Rule of Evidence 902(14), which provides for self-authentication of digital evidence through hash value certification \u2014 a process that is cryptographically verifiable rather than administratively attestable.[12] The UK&#8217;s approach under the Criminal Justice Act 2003 similarly places forensic methodology, not just organisational certification, at the heart of admissibility.[13] India&#8217;s legislative framework has borrowed the form of these developments without absorbing their technical substance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The practical consequence is that a certificate can be \u2014 and regularly is \u2014 issued by an officer who was not present during acquisition, who cannot explain the acquisition methodology, and who has no forensic qualifications. It remains legally valid because the statute does not require anything more.[14] Section 79A of the Information Technology Act, 2000 empowers the Central Government to notify examiners of electronic evidence, yet the gazette-notified list of approved examiners remains small relative to the volume of cases requiring digital forensic analysis [15], leaving an enormous gap between statutory aspiration and investigative reality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"h-conclusion-digital-evidence-and-the-future-of-indian-evidence-law\" class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Conclusion_Digital_Evidence_and_the_Future_of_Indian_Evidence_Law\"><\/span>Conclusion: Digital Evidence and the Future of Indian Evidence Law<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The identification of electronic records as the main evidence used by Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam is the correct instinct of law. The issue here is that in it, it is the symptom the doctrinal clumsiness of electronic copies that are being dealt with, rather than the disease: the forensic incompetence of the procedures of acquiring, preserving, authenticating, and presenting electronic evidence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Digital evidence is not objective due to the fact that it is binary. It is objective to the degree it is obtained without contamination, maintained without change, verified by a rigorous technical method and presented in the process where the adversaries can meaningfully challenge it. And currently, none of these conditions is being systematically complied with in Indian criminal proceedings not due to bad faith, but rather due to the lack of norms, education, and internal structures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The proposals of reform made in this paper are not radical. They do not demand either new technology or massive spending. They need to remain cognizant that the judiciary, the legislature, and the bar need to consider that digital evidence is as good as the process that generates it and a certificate, however formally valid, is not a substitute that a working chain of custody would be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>&#8220;Justice in the digital age must rest not on convenience, but on verifiable authenticity and incorruptible truth.&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Until the forensic infrastructure of Indian criminal investigation catches up with the evidentiary ambitions of Indian criminal legislation, the promise encoded in Sections 61\u201363 of the BSA will remain, in the most literal sense, a paper promise.<sup><a href=\"#reference-29\">[29]<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"h-references\" class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"References\"><\/span>References<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<h3 id=\"h-indian-evidence-law-and-judicial-decisions\" class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Indian_Evidence_Law_and_Judicial_Decisions\"><\/span>Indian Evidence Law and Judicial Decisions<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023, \u00a7\u00a7 61\u201363 (electronic records designated as primary evidence, equivalent in status to original paper documents).<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023, \u00a7 63 (copies of electronic records admissible without production of the original, subject to certification).<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Anvar P.V. v. P.K. Basheer, (2014) 10 SCC 473 (holding that a valid Section 65B certificate is a mandatory precondition for admission of electronic records; form of certificate does not cure absence of forensic verification).<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Arjun Panditrao Khotkar v. Kailash Kushanrao Gorantyal, (2020) 7 SCC 1 (reaffirming Anvar P.V. and confirming that courts have authority to impose procedural compliance as a condition of admissibility for digital evidence).<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Arjun Panditrao Khotkar v. Kailash Kushanrao Gorantyal, (2020) 7 SCC 1 (the Court&#8217;s affirmation of strict compliance with certification requirements underscores the inadequacy of attestation-only frameworks that lack technical verification mechanisms).<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Shyam Sunder v. State of Rajasthan, (2010) 15 SCC 703 (holding that electronic records produced without procedural compliance under Section 65B cannot be treated as substantive evidence, making operational-context certification legally insufficient without corresponding forensic rigour).<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>State v. Mohd. Afzal Guru, (2005) 11 SCC 600 (the Court&#8217;s recognition of authentication requirements for electronic evidence predates the BSA but was not translated into technical admissibility standards in subsequent legislation).<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Information Technology Act, 2000 (as amended 2008), \u00a7 79A (empowering the Central Government to notify examiners of electronic evidence; the gazette-notified list of approved examiners remains disproportionately small relative to the volume of digital evidence cases in Indian courts).<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023, \u00a7 530 (permitting witness examination by audio-visual electronic means; the provision is silent on platform security requirements, biometric identity verification, and tamper-proof recording obligations).<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023, Ch. XXII (digital evidence provisions applicable to investigations and trial proceedings; Chapter does not specify technical competence requirements for officers handling electronic records).<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<h3 id=\"h-digital-forensics-and-technical-standards\" class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Digital_Forensics_and_Technical_Standards\"><\/span>Digital Forensics and Technical Standards<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Kerr, Orin S., &#8216;Digital Evidence and the New Criminal Procedure,&#8217; 105 Colum. L. Rev. 279 (2005), at 284 (discussing the forensic implications of write operations during digital acquisition).<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>National Forensics Science University, &#8216;Digital Forensics Manual&#8217; (2022), at 44 (documenting non-disclosure of acquisition methodology in forensic reports submitted to Indian courts).<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), &#8216;Guidelines on Mobile Device Forensics,&#8217; SP 800-101 Rev. 1 (2014), at 3-1 (setting out hash-based acquisition verification as the baseline standard for forensic integrity).<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Ministry of Home Affairs, &#8216;Digital Investigation Training Program&#8217; (2023) (identifying inadequate storage infrastructure and absence of standardised digital evidence registers as systemic gaps in district-level investigation).<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>ACPO Good Practice Guide for Digital Evidence (UK), v5 (2012); Digital Forensics Specialist Group (DFSG) Practice Guidelines (2023) (establishing the four foundational principles of digital evidence handling that underpin UK forensic admissibility).<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Interpol, &#8216;Digital Forensics: An Introduction for Law Enforcement Agencies in Developing Countries&#8217; (2021), at 11\u201315 (documenting write-blocker non-compliance and acquisition failures as a near-universal pattern in emerging-economy jurisdictions, characterising the gap as systemic rather than incidental).<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>ACPO Good Practice Guide for Digital Evidence (UK), v5 (2012), Principle 1\u20134 (the four principles \u2014 no alteration, competence of accessor, creation of audit trail, and investigating officer responsibility represent internationally recognised procedural standards requiring no new technology for implementation).<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Tom\u00e1s P\u00f6ysti, &#8216;Blockchain as Evidence: Legal Validity and Evidentiary Weight,&#8217; 12 European Journal of Law and Technology (2021), at 4\u20137 (examining the immutability of blockchain audit trails and analysing their legal admissibility in civil and criminal proceedings across multiple jurisdictions; concluding that cryptographic audit logs carry presumptive evidentiary weight subject to technical verification of the chain&#8217;s integrity).<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<h3 id=\"h-international-legal-frameworks-and-comparative-standards\" class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"International_Legal_Frameworks_and_Comparative_Standards\"><\/span>International Legal Frameworks and Comparative Standards<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Federal Rules of Evidence, Rule 902(14) (U.S.) (providing self-authentication of digital evidence through hash value certification by a qualified person who must be prepared to testify to the methodology employed).<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Criminal Justice Act 2003 (U.K.), \u00a7 129 (admissibility of statements produced by machines, with reliability assessed by reference to the process by which the statement was produced, not merely organisational attestation).<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Singapore Supreme Court, &#8216;Technology and Long-Cause Matters Protocol&#8217; (2021), \u00a7\u00a7 6\u20139 (mandating court-appointed officer presence with remote witness, 360-degree camera survey, continuous tamper-proof recording, and use of court-controlled secure platforms rather than commercial services).<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Federal Rules of Evidence, Rule 902(14) (U.S.) (the rule&#8217;s requirement that the certifying person be available to testify to methodology renders digital evidence certification adversarially testable, as opposed to purely administrative, which is the critical distinction absent from the Indian Section 65B framework).<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<h3 id=\"h-government-reports-and-policy-documents\" class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Government_Reports_and_Policy_Documents\"><\/span>Government Reports and Policy Documents<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs, &#8216;Report on the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023&#8217; (241st Report, Rajya Sabha, 2023), at 67\u201371 (the Committee itself flagged the absence of platform-security standards for virtual testimony as a lacuna requiring legislative rectification).<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>CERT-In, &#8216;Annual Report 2023: Cyber Incidents in India,&#8217; at 18 (documenting a year-on-year increase in cyberattacks targeting government and judicial digital infrastructure, with data exfiltration and ransomware identified as primary vectors).<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In), &#8216;Cyber Security Guidelines for Government Entities&#8217; (2023), \u00a7\u00a7 4.2\u20134.5 (mandatory encryption, access-logging, and incident-reporting requirements for government digital infrastructure; commercial conferencing platforms are not certified under this framework).<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Ministry of Home Affairs, &#8216;Digital Investigation Training Program&#8217; (2023) (NFSU training infrastructure concentrated in metropolitan centres, with limited reach to district-level law enforcement and legal practitioners in non-metro jurisdictions).<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), &#8216;National Cyber Security Policy&#8217; (2013, updated framework 2023), \u00a7 6 (identifying capacity-building for law enforcement as a priority mandate; the policy has not been translated into mandatory digital forensics curricula for the legal profession or Bar Council continuing education requirements).<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Law Commission of India, &#8216;Report No. 269: Amendments to the Indian Evidence Act, 1872 Electronic Records and Digital Evidence&#8217; (2017), at 22\u201328 (recommending hash-based verification protocols, digital timestamping standards, and forensic methodology disclosure as conditions of admissibility; these recommendations were not incorporated into the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023).<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023, \u00a7\u00a7 61\u201363 (the designation of electronic records as primary evidence represents the legislature&#8217;s most significant modernisation of Indian evidence law, but without concurrent technical admissibility standards the provision risks functioning as a convenience-driven lowering of evidentiary thresholds rather than a principled recognition of digital reliability).<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Written By: Atika Khairi<\/strong> \u2013 LL.M. Scholar, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-yoast-seo-related-links yoast-seo-related-links\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.legalserviceindia.com\/Legal-Articles\/digital-evidence-in-india-the-rising-role-of-technology-in-delivering-public-justice-insights\/\">Digital Evidence in India: The Rising Role of Technology in Delivering Public Justice &#8211; Insights<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.legalserviceindia.com\/Legal-Articles\/who-can-certify-digital-evidence-indias-supreme-court-leaves-the-answer-open\/\">Who Can Certify Digital Evidence? India&#8217;s Supreme Court Leaves the Answer Open<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.legalserviceindia.com\/Legal-Articles\/cornerstone-of-digital-evidence-ensuring-integrity-with-hash-values\/\">The Cornerstone of Digital Evidence: Ensuring Integrity with Hash Values<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.legalserviceindia.com\/Legal-Articles\/the-digital-mirror-a-global-guide-to-forensic-imaging\/\">The Digital Mirror: A Global Guide to Forensic Imaging<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.legalserviceindia.com\/Legal-Articles\/the-digital-paradigm-shift-re-evaluating-electronic-evidence-admissibility-under-sections-61-63-of-the-bharatiya-sakshya-adhiniyam-2023\/\">The Digital Paradigm Shift: Re-Evaluating Electronic Evidence Admissibility under Sections 61\u201363 of the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I. Introduction: The Myth of Objective Data A tempting myth of electronic evidence presentation is inherent to the approach of treating e-data in courts: it is biased as binary. One can stage a photograph, lie as a witness and forge a document. But a file date, a GPS positioning, a server journal these are not<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1978,"featured_media":35292,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"two_page_speed":[],"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"_joinchat":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[97],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-35194","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-technology-laws"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v28.8 (Yoast SEO v28.8) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Authenticity at Risk: Loopholes in the Handling of Digital Evidence - Legal Service India - Articles<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Digital evidence in Indian courts faces forensic challenges. 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