Blockchain-based, Decentralized Evidence Archive System using IPFS

Abstract

In spite of growth in technology, Indian Judiciary system somehow lacks digitalization. In the court trials cases, every argument by the lawyers, evidence presentation, witness/suspect cross examination everything will be noted down by the stenographer and everyday hearings details will be printed at the end of every court sessions. Therefore, the details about particular case will be in physical files as well as in digital format and can be accessed whenever it is needed like in the situation of case reopening. Data integrity is important in the judiciary system; when it comes to court cases, evidence integrity must be protected because even little changes in the evidence can lead to false judgments, and historical data is crucial. Where historical data archiving is necessary, Blockchain technology is suited. In the modern era, Blockchain technology is regarded as more reliable technology than any other. Blockchain technology can be used in the justice system to provide privacy and integrity, as well as efficient auditability and traceability, for storing case records and evidences. This research study has proposed a novel method using InterPlanetary File System distributed data storage to store case details and evidences on top of the Ethereum Blockchain. The case details can be stored using text and image files. The Ethereum smart contract is used for storing hash value of data in the Blockchain. The storage and access of the data in InterPlanetary File System is studied and explained using an experimental setting.