Polygon powers India police complaint portal, battling corruption

Published at: Oct. 13, 2022

The 2.8 million citizens of India’s Firozabad district may now be able to sleep a little tighter, after the launch of a new police complaint portal that uses blockchain technology to prevent manipulation.

On Oct. 12, Polygon co-founder Sandeep Nailwal announced in a series of tweets that the Polygon blockchain protocol is now being used by Firozabad police in Uttar Pradesh to fight against local police corruption and crime.

Called the First Information Report (FIR), the portal allows victims of crimes to register complaints against local police officers without the complaints either being dismissed or manipulated by potentially corrupt officers.

Nailwal shared that the project was very close to his heart because he grew up hearing stories of victims not getting justice due to local police corruption, many of who were victims of rape.

Police Complaints(FIR) on blockchain powered by @0xPolygon This is very close to my heart. We grow up hearing about so many of such cases wherein due to some corruption in a local police department, victims(mostly of rapes) are not even able to register complaint or…1/2 https://t.co/k9gRMD6r08

— Sandeep | Polygon 3️⃣ (@sandeepnailwal) October 12, 2022

The video shared by Nailwal was posted by the Firozabad police, featuring a video snippet from the Senior Superintendent of Police for Firozabad, Ashish Tiwari.

Nailwal said that with the FIR going on the blockchain, this ensures that the reports can not be manipulated or denied by lower-level officers, and “could be a game-changer in ensuring right to justice.”

In the announcement, Nailwal also thanked the police commissioner for going beyond the call of duty to implement and innovate with technology to ensure equitable justice.

The announcement from the Firozabad police has also been picked up by others in the crypto community, with many seeing it as great news for Polygon, blockchain technology and the citizens of Firozabad.

Twitter user @srinigoes, a veteran of the Indian navy, commented to their 15,200 followers it was “an amazing initiative” to get complaints registered on blockchain, which would ensure transparency.

“The biggest problem in the interiors of India was whoever registered the FIR (First Information Report) first, had first mover advantage,” he said.

1/2This is an amazing initiative. To get the complaints registered on blockchain. At least the blockchain will ensure transparency. The biggest problem in the interiors of India was whoever registered the FIR (First Information Report) first, had first mover advantage. https://t.co/vMbEWRG4Rr

— Srini ~ Akash the Ape (@srinigoes) October 12, 2022

Kashif Raza, founder of crypto education start up Bitinning noted on Twitter that the first complaint portal on Polygon has now been launching meaning:

“1) Complaints are now immutable. 2) Verifiable. 3) Easy to file.”

On Oct 6, Cointelegraph reported that Polygon announced a partnership with the Ocean Conservation Exploration and Education Foundation (OCEEF) to promote ocean literacy through new creative, entertaining, and engaging ways to give people exposure to deep underwater missions.