Preventing Spoliation of Evidence with Blockchain: A Perspective from\n South Asia

Abstract

Evidence destruction and tempering is a time-tested tactic to protect the\npowerful perpetrators, criminals, and corrupt officials. Countries where law\nenforcing institutions and judicial system can be comprised, and evidence\ndestroyed or tampered, ordinary citizens feel disengaged with the investigation\nor prosecution process, and in some instances, intimidated due to the\nvulnerability to exposure and retribution. Using Distributed Ledger\nTechnologies (DLT), such as blockchain, as the underpinning technology, here we\npropose a conceptual model - 'EvidenceChain', through which citizens can\nanonymously upload digital evidence, having assurance that the integrity of the\nevidence will be preserved in an immutable and indestructible manner. Person\nuploading the evidence can anonymously share it with investigating authorities\nor openly with public, if coerced by the perpetrators or authorities.\nTransferring the ownership of evidence from authority to ordinary citizen, and\ncustodianship of evidence from susceptible centralized repository to an\nimmutable and indestructible distributed repository, can cause a paradigm shift\nof power that not only can minimize spoliation of evidence but human rights\nabuse too. Here the conceptual model was theoretically tested against some\nhigh-profile spoliation of evidence cases from four South Asian developing\ncountries that often rank high in global corruption index and low in human\nrights index.\n