Delhi becomes first ever city to introduce blockchain for tamper-proof FSL report

Sources revealed the introduction of blockchain technology to protect investigations in the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL).

Delhi becomes first ever city to introduce blockchain for tamper-proof FSL report

By Nidhi Bhardwaj: While the concept of blockchain technology has been around for a while, Delhi has recently announced the use of blockchain technology in crime investigations and has become the first city in the country to do so.

According to the sources, this move is expected to protect the investigation from tampering and facilitate speedy transfer of reports to the court. The Delhi government has introduced blockchain technology in the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL).

How beneficial will this move be?

Blockchain is being touted as the next big thing in digital security. Moreover, the latest report on its usage suggested that banks, financial firms and governments prefer this technology to store sensitive data in a safe and secure manner.

In this case, blockchain will ensure the immutability of records, provide reliability to digital evidence and provide effective audit trail features, officials said. Blockchain, uses cryptographic hashing to make the history of digital assets immutable and transparent. According to recent information, the new system will also include such security measures to protect FSL data from hacking.

As quoted by IT department officials, this technology will soon be introduced to secure data from various certificates like caste, domicile, grade certificate issued by the revenue department and afforestation records.

Security is introduced in stages

To ensure that the chain of custody (the process by which evidence is handled through the various stages) is not tampered with, blockchain-based interventions have been implemented in four stages. “When the samples, along with the copy of the FIR and the requests, are received, when the case is assigned to an investigator at FSL, during finalization of the report, and when it is sent,” an official said.

Also, to make a change at any stage, the existing record cannot be changed and a new block must be created. If there is an attempt to tamper with the record, all authorized persons will be notified immediately.

Previous blockchain use case in FIR

After introducing a new police complaint system that uses blockchain technology to avoid corruption, the Indian police has built the country’s first online complaint portal on the Polygon blockchain last year. The portal allows the general public to file the ‘First Information Report’ (FIR) and track it in real time. The initiative was taken by the famous IPS officer Ashish Tiwari, in the Indian Police Service. Furthermore, with the help of blockchain, the complaints will remain public and transparent, which does not allow administrators or police officers to change complaints on it.