India Police Launch Pilot Polygon-Based Complaint Registration Portal

An Indian district, Firozabad, about 40 km from Agra of Taj Mahal’s fame in the Indian province of Uttar Pradesh, would start the registration of complaints police complaints on the blockchain network. 

The district, with 2.4 million people and 21 police stations, aims to achieve immutability and transparency of complaints lodged by victims of crime by leveraging this emerging technology.   

Blockchain-Based Complaint Portal 

“Using emerging technologies like Blockchain, a pilot portal, policecomplaintonblockchain.in, has been launched which is free of cost, dedicated to the city… The benefit of using Blockchain is that the complaints registered on it can’t be tampered with as data recorded is immutable and transparent,” Ashish Tiwari, Senior Superintendent of Police, Firozbad, said in a tweet.

The blockchain-based portal to register complaints by victims of crime has been prepared on the Polygon network and uses OxPolygon modular blockchain solutions. Tiwari, the chief of the Firozabad district police, is an M. Tech in Computer Science from the prestigious Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kharagpur. 

The blockchain-based police complaint portal has been prepared by a private company that specializes in Web 3 software making in collaboration with the smart cell of the district police.  

Addresses Manipulation and Corruption 

The project aims to address a key issue in the Indian criminal justice system. Sometimes, police officials refuse to register complaints or try to manipulate them.

By letting people lodge their complaints on a blockchain network, the Firozabad police administration is trying to ensure that people can make their complaints freely and the content of the complaint is immune to manipulation. The experiment holds immense significance as it can prove to be a game changer for the Indian police, for whom corruption at the lower levels is a big challenge.  

Polygon CEO Sandeep Naiwal said growing up in India, he understands the importance of using blockchain for registering police complaints. “This is very close to my heart,” he said in a tweet on the development.

Positive About Blockchain Technology

Generally speaking, Indian government agencies have good things to say about blockchain technology, but their response to cryptocurrencies has been extremely guarded and skeptical. 

In June, CryptoPotato reported that despite the “anti-crypto” stance, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has been working on its pilot to introduce blockchain technology into the Indian banking system.

Earlier this year, Indian Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman hailed blockchain technology as “absolutely imperative” but flagged concerns over its anonymity factor. Speaking at the launch of a blockchain platform for debenture and convent monitoring at National Securities Depository Limited in May, she said blockchain technology calls for precautions because of its anonymity features.