Legal and Practical Challenges for the Storage of Electronic Evidence and Its Effects in Court Proceedings: A Comparative Analysis between Tanzania Mainland and India
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: Electronic evidence now decides cases that once turned on paper, yet the law of proof has concentrated on whether such evidence may be admitted and has paid far less attention to how it is stored before it reaches the courtroom. This paper compares the legal and practical challenges of storing electronic evidence in Tanzania Mainland and India and examines their effects on court proceedings. Tanzania treats electronic evidence through a flexible, weight-based test under the Evidence Act and the Electronic Transactions Act 2015. India, after the divergent decisions in Navjot Sandhu, Anvar P.V., Shafhi Mohammad and Arjun Panditrao Khotkar, adopted a certificate-based gateway that the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam 2023 has now recast. Using a functional comparative method, the paper argues that both systems fail at the same point: neither imposes enforceable standards on the custody and retention of digital material between capture and trial. It introduces the Five Cs model (Capture, Custody, Certification, Courtroom and Conservation) as an analytical and reform tool, and concludes that a custody-centred approach, combining India's demand for verifiable integrity with Tanzania's flexibility, would improve the accuracy of fact-finding, the protection of fair trial rights and public confidence in digital justice.
Author: Judith H. Barigenge
Language: English
Topic: Education, Law, and Society
Subfield: Law
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W7225752336
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