Establishing Trust: A Techno-Legal Framework for Ensuring Digital Evidence Integrity
Book Chapter
Chaudhary, NK, Iyengar, SS, Mistry, N. (2026). Establishing Trust: A Techno-Legal Framework for Ensuring Digital Evidence Integrity
. Part F1934 211-220. 10.1007/978-3-031-98036-7_13
Chaudhary, NK, Iyengar, SS, Mistry, N. (2026). Establishing Trust: A Techno-Legal Framework for Ensuring Digital Evidence Integrity
. Part F1934 211-220. 10.1007/978-3-031-98036-7_13
Three bills, namely, the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita 2023 (BNS), the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita 2023(BNSS), and the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam 2023 (BSA), was passed in the winter session of the parliament. After the assent of Hon’ble President of India three acts have been notified in the Gazette of India on Dec 25, 2023, and promulgated from July 1st, 2024. These three new criminal laws have repealed and replaced the Indian Penal Code 1860, the Code of Criminal Procedure 1973, and the Indian Evidence Act, 1872. The Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam 2023 covers the provisions related to admissibility of digital evidence in the court of law. The integrity of the digital content due to its probative value is the essential yardstick for admissibility. This chapter examines the technical and legal implications for the admissibility of digital evidence as per the new laws and proposes a procedure for establishing the integrity of the electronic evidence through a proof of concept. The framework suggested in this chapter provides a reliable procedure for establishing the integrity of the digital evidence submitted by the custodian in line with the techno-legal imperatives of the new criminal laws.
