Paper in the Age of the Digital

The Curious Case of 65-B Certificates in India

Datos Bibliográficos

ID3793290
AutoresShikhar Goel (0009-0005-7009-8829)
Año2024
Volumen11
Número4
Páginas435-452
Fecha de publicación2024-12-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaAsian Journal of Law and Society (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 2052-9015 • E-ISSN: 2052-9023
EditorialCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/als.2024.23
OpenAlexW4406226039
IdiomaEN
Referencias citadas23

Law enforcement institutions in India are undergoing fundamental media technological transformations, integrating digital media technologies into crime investigation, documentation, and presentation methods. This article seeks to understand these transformations by examining the curious case of 65-B certificates, a mandatory paper document that gatekeeps and governs the life of new media objects as evidence in the Indian legal system. In exploring the tensions that arise when bureaucratic institutions change their means of information production, the article reflects on the continued stubborn presence of paper at this transformative juncture in the life of legal institutions. By studying the role of paper in bureaucratic practices, analyzing jurisprudential debates and case law surrounding 65-B certificates, and thinking through some scattered ethnographic encounters around these certificates involving police officers, forensic scientists, and practicing lawyers, this article argues that despite ongoing digital transformations, law essentially remains a technology of paper

Geography · Computer Science · History of Computing Technologies