– Insha Pani
While the nation’s historic overhaul of the three major criminal laws captured national and international attention, another significant development is breathing its way quietly but powerfully is the introduction of the E-Sakshya Mobile application—part of a broader digital transformation within the criminal justice system. The E-Sakshya app, developed in consonance with Sections 105 and 183 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023, is poised to digitally revolutionize the crucial processes of collecting, storing, and transferring evidence. The E-Sakshya app is a part of the Interoperable Criminal Justice System (ICJS), an idea, a project that strives to amalgamate and integrate the five crucial pillars of the criminal justice system. A cloud-based, high-speed connectivity project that seeks to enable a seamless transfer of data and information among the crucial pillars of criminal justice through the integration of the crime and criminal tracking Network and system with databases of e-court and e-prisons and further with fields of forensic labs, prosecution and juvenile homes, etc. The most straightforward inference would be that the conception of an interoperable platform would exponentially strengthen the accessibility of data, FIR, chargesheets, and summons to almost all the courts of the nation in real time.
Along similar lines, the E-Sakshya application seeks to bridge the infirmities and gaps in the procedural aspect of criminal justice, which pertains to recording the scene of crime and procuring evidence. The police officer is bound to upload a selfie following the completion of the procedure. Each recording corresponding to a single FIR could be for a maximum of four minutes. However, uploading several recordings corresponding to a single FIR is also permissible, according to the developers of the app at the National Informatics Centre (NIC). While this revolutionary application may seem to mend the procedural flaws, thereby instilling transparency in the criminal justice system, It is vital to recognize that every technology involves a different set of difficulties and practical problems during implementation. The promise of E-Sakshya, as with any advanced technology product, lies in the adaptation of its application towards practical limitations and conditions. Operational logistics or the practicality of running the application creates many questions regarding the possible functionality for optimum effectiveness, especially considering India’s vastly divergent infrastructure development process within regions.
The most discernible and apparent issue with any use of any mobile application intended to bring revolution to the very process of justice delivery mechanism arises from the need for penetrability – that reaches to the deepest of the pockets in this country and at locales which the network connectivity is still trying to blossom. And it is from the crux of these two scenarios that a very deep cause for alarm is derived. As said earlier, the ICJS as a whole and the E-Sakshya app as one of its conceptualizations require a stable, high-speed internet connection as the foundation of these initiatives lies in the storing of the data in cloud storage. Certain states like Meghalaya, Mizoram, Himachal Pradesh, Tripura, and Nagaland, which witness statistically lowest penetration of internet connectivity in rural areas, pose a significant challenge in the efficient implementation of the app. This can be attributed to the fact that crime rates in these areas are quite significant, and therefore, the implementation of criminal justice procedures would naturally flow out of such events. However, with the implementation of the E-Sakshya app, the recording and storing of evidence being dependent on internet connectivity adds a layer of convolution to the process. This leads us to a larger concern about the country’s preparedness for a major digital shift in the justice system. Just as with every transformation, this shift to a digital landscape comes at a cost. This cost is due to infrastructural and security shortcomings. We still stall at a point where several terrains do not enjoy basic mobile network connectivity. Thus, the primary requirement of high-speed network connectivity comes as a latent barrier. High-quality digital files, especially videos, demand significant bandwidth. In areas with limited internet speed, this process can delay investigations, eroding confidence in the system’s efficacy. Concerns regarding this app also pertain to the fact that being a network-dependent platform, the task of uploading evidence can be extremely time-consuming. The task of obtaining evidence is inherently lengthy and protracted, however, when the same has to be subsequently uploaded on an application, it becomes an arduous exercise. This was highlighted in a recent case in Rajasthan, where the recording of a crime scene took as long as 7 hours. One can merely speculate the quantum of data required to upload such evidence and the resulting depreciation in the quality of the upload. Further, delays in uploading evidence due to network issues could compromise the chain of custody or even lead to loss of critical data.
Another concern regarding the functionality and efficacy of the application is the lack of adequate training for police personnel in its operation. Senior police officials have reflected upon this aspect of the application, even though the police forces have been given rigorous training sessions following the introduction of the three criminal laws. A similar training initiative has not been taken concerning the usage and operation of the E-Sakshya Application. This lack of preparedness creates hurdles to inefficient evidence collection and upload, particularly in rural and under-resourced pockets of the nation.
Added to the lack of training is the uneven technological adoption. Even though the police forces have been engaged in the adoption of technological advancements like blockchain, artificial intelligence-enabled Traffic management systems, body cameras, cloud forensics, and biometric identification systems, these manoeuvres have not been able to percolate or dissipate technological expertise uniformly to all levels of police personnel. Officers at grassroots levels often lack exposure to or confidence in these tools, highlighting the need for tiered and uniform training programs. This concern can be attributed to low budget allocation for technology. Police expenditure in India constitutes only about 3% of the central and state government budgets, leaving limited resources for technology upgrades and training. This leads to outdated equipment and inadequate digital infrastructure.
Additionally, there subsists a gleaming want of adequate training and resources to equip the forces with inevitably requisite knowledge and practical skills. Owing to challenges and inadequacies like lack of tech-savvy forces and the further novice nature of the application, in some specific instances, the investigating police officers have opted for means like mobile video recordings, DVDs, and pen drives, which are being used as alternatives to store data. This makes the system prone to possible tampering and thus nullifies the entire objective of the vigour.
The application is based on the foundational principle that all evidence procured has to be uploaded on a cloud-based platform. It is pertinent to point out here that a case comprises highly sensitive evidence such as witness testimonies, forensic data, and digital documents. This necessitates a strong firewall and encryption mechanism to prevent and bar unauthorized access and possible distortions and perversion of materially crucial evidence. As the introduction of the E-Sakshya application renders the criminal justice system dependent on evidence procured and collected through the app, in entirety, any minor yet material distortion or travesty of evidence will manifest as a major hindrance in the attainment of justice and would thus do more harm than good. For instance, any lapse or inconsistency in this intricate framework could render climacteric evidence inadmissible in court. As an accepted reality, the aim of maintaining a tamper-proof chain of custody for evidence is extremely critical and, parallelly, a cavernous challenge in the digital environment.
Section 63 of the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam mandates the certification of digital evidence (secondary evidence) from an ‘expert’ who is a person who, through expertise and experience, gained special knowledge in any specific field. In section 63(4) of the BSA, the term ‘expert’ is meant to refer to someone with specialized knowledge of computers and electronic devices or a ‘cyber’ expert as referred to in general parlance. A standard operating procedure prescribed by the Bureau of Police Research & Development, however, prescribes a certification only in the absence of the E-Sakshya Application when evidence is procured through other means and later uploaded on the application. So here, confusion and bafflement arise as to whether the evidence recorded on the E-Sakshya Application is to be considered and regarded as primary evidence or secondary evidence.
Insights From Practices Of Foreign Systems
Lessons from applications and software similar to E-Sakshya in other countries can provide valuable insights for enhancing the functionality of the application by addressing the discernible as well as the latent challenges in the application in its current form:
- The United States has relied upon a software named “Prosecutor by Karpel” (PbK)for almost 30 years until its recent adoption of “Evidence.com” by “Axon Justice and Axon Evidence”. One of the most remarkable features of Evidence.com is – Scalable Data Management, Which enables prosecutors to manage vast amounts of data from police body cams and digital evidence. This is implemented through a robust metadata tagging system, which prompts easy retrieval. The E-Sakshya application could utilize such data management using hybrid cloud systems to ensure the efficient storage of large evidence files, even with fluctuating internet connectivity, a difficulty investigating police officers often run into.
- Similar application adopted by nations of the European Union, the e-CODEX provides a sufficiently reliable platform for the storage of confidential evidence by instituting strict access controls and audit trails to maintain the chain of custody. As said earlier, the incorporation of a similar advanced encryption protocol and tamper-proof logs in the E-Sakshya app can help address our concerns pertaining to the safekeeping of crucial evidence.
- Another application peculiar to South Africa, the “court online: evidence management (caselines)”, is of specific relevance to the E-Sakshya application because this platform emphasizes accessibility even in areas with poor infrastructure, coupled with extensive training for law enforcement. Such an application has the potential to grapple with two concerns endemic to the Indian landscape, which pertain to – the lack of a stable infrastructure to support such a pervasive project and to equip one of the largest law-enforcement forces with adequate technological literacy even in under-resourced regions.
Concluding Remarks
As such, the revolutionary introduction of the E-Sakshya app did mark another major milestone in the criminal justice system of the nation, specially curated to overcome procedural loopholes and increase the transparency quotient by expediting the procuring and storing of evidence.
The realization of this application, however, depends entirely on the eradication of certain systemic and structural obstacles that pertain to Uneven infrastructure adequacy, a lack of police training, and inadequate technological literacy. These somehow comprise the major issues centred around the application, which must be tackled with Strategic interventions to address these issues, such as institutionalizing stable and high-speed internet access, strong data storage and management systems, and cutting-edge encryption techniques. These interventions also extend to the training of police forces, ensuring percolation through all levels for the successful operability of the application.
Integration of international practices that include data management tagging and prompt retrieval in the US and access-friendly and infrastructure-friendly applications in South Africa bring instrumental recommendations into enhancing the functionality of E-Sakshya application such as, but not restricted to, hybrid cloud solutions for the efficient storage of data, tamper-proofing the access points through extensive evidence integrity along with massive training initiatives for the user and more importantly making citizenry or commoners stakeholders into the framework. This can be achieved by allowing them to capture and share evidence which might be critical for the disposal of cases, which will further expand the efficacy and transparency of the application.
In conclusion, though E-Sakshya carries tremendous potential to bridge the procedural gaps, its feasibility is strictly dependent on solving infrastructural and operational concerns. E-Sakshya can profoundly transform India’s criminal justice system by applying and integrating global best practices in a manner that facilitates its vision of transparency as well as efficiency without conceding to the mechanism of delivering justice.
The author is a Second-year student enrolled in B.A.LL.B (Hons.) at National Law University Odisha.