Removal is the goal. It is also when the proof goes.
India gives you several routes at once and they pull in opposite directions. There are three: a civil suit for damages and an injunction, a criminal complaint for defamation under section 356 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, and a grievance to the platform under the IT Rules, where the officer must acknowledge within twenty-four hours and dispose of the complaint within fifteen days. The grievance is the fastest, and it is the one that erases the thing every other route needs.
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anon_reviews_9021
2 days ago · public · 340 shares
“Everyone should know how this firm actually treats its clients. I will keep posting until they respond.”
Account deleted after the legal notice. Only a cropped screenshot survives.
Captured & sealed
SHA-256 · hash for the certificate
Illustrative example. Fictional account, not a real post.
In India, online defamation is punishable under section 356 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita 2023, and an intermediary must remove unlawful content within thirty-six hours of a court order under rule 3(1)(d) of the IT Rules 2021. Complaining first destroys the exhibit, so ProofSnap captures the post, its reach and its comments before the takedown.
Section 356 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita 2023 replaced sections 499 and 500 of the Indian Penal Code with effect from 1 July 2024 and consolidated defamation into a single provision, punishable with simple imprisonment up to two years, or fine, or both, or community service. The substance of the offence did not materially change; the numbering did, and older material still cites the IPC. Alongside the criminal route there is a civil action for damages and injunction, and there is the platform route under the Information Technology Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code Rules 2021: the intermediary must appoint a grievance officer who acknowledges a complaint within twenty-four hours and disposes of it within fifteen days, and must remove unlawful content within thirty-six hours of a court order or a notification from an appropriate government agency. Every route starts from the same exhibit: the publication as it stood, the account that made it, the date, and the reach. The platform route is the quickest and it deletes that exhibit. Under section 63 of the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam the record you eventually produce needs a certificate stating its hash value, and ProofSnap generates that hash at capture, with the full page, the saved source, the URL, the capture time in UTC and an RSA-4096 signature. From $4.99 (about ₹480) as a one-off.
Radim Motycka, Founder and Lead Engineer, ProofSnap · · Independently verifiable via Trust Verifier
Why the case collapses
The post comes down, and the case comes down with it
Publication is what you have to prove, and publication is what the other side can delete in four seconds.
A legal notice triggers deletion
The notice is usually the moment the post disappears. That is a good outcome for your reputation and a bad one for the case, because what you now have to prove is a thing that no longer exists anywhere you control.
Reach is part of the harm
How far the post travelled, who shared it, what the replies said and how the account described itself all go to the extent of the damage. Those numbers change hourly and vanish with the post.
A cropped screenshot proves very little
An image showing text and a handle, with no URL, no timestamp and no hash, invites exactly the response you would expect. Section 63 asks the certificate to state a hash value, and a cropped image has none.
Three routes and what each one needs
The route changes the forum and the timetable, not the fact that all of them run on the publication itself.
Criminal defamation, BNS section 356
Section 356 replaced IPC sections 499 and 500 from 1 July 2024. Defamation is punishable with simple imprisonment up to two years, or fine, or both, or community service. The exceptions, including truth for the public good, survive from the old law.
Civil action for damages and injunction
A civil suit can seek damages and, more usefully in practice, an injunction restraining further publication and directing removal. Interim relief is decided quickly and on documents, which is exactly where a dated, verifiable capture earns its place.
The platform route under the IT Rules
The intermediary must publish the name of a grievance officer, acknowledge a complaint within twenty-four hours and dispose of it within fifteen days. Content must be removed within thirty-six hours of a court order or a notification from an appropriate government agency.
The routes work against each other
The grievance is fastest and cheapest, and it destroys the exhibit the civil and criminal routes depend on. Capture first, then complain, and you keep every option open instead of trading one for another.
If you are the one accused, capture as well
Capture is underused on the defence side. If you published something and intend to rely on truth for the public good or on fair comment, the context that supports you sits on the same page and on the pages you were responding to, and it is just as deletable. Capture what you actually published before you edit or remove anything, and capture the material you were replying to.
How do I capture a page in 41 seconds?
No forensic training required. The proof is in the package, not in your account of how careful you were.
Capture the post, the profile and the thread
Open the post, the account page and the replies in Chrome or Edge and capture each from the side panel. Capture the share and view counts too, because they go to the extent of the harm.
The package seals itself
Every file receives an SHA-256 hash, the manifest is signed with an RSA-4096 key, and the manifest hash is anchored to Bitcoin. The capture time is recorded in UTC, independent of your device clock.
Then send the notice or file the grievance
Send the legal notice, file the grievance with the platform, or move for an injunction, knowing that removal no longer costs you the evidence.
What is in the evidence package?
Between 11 and 15 files depending on your plan, delivered as one ZIP that anyone can check without installing anything.
Full-page screenshot
The whole page, not just the visible window, stitched and hashed.
Saved page source
The document as rendered at capture time, including the head, meta tags and structured data.
Extracted page text
Searchable plain text, so a quote can be found and cited without retyping.
Technical metadata
URL, page title, HTTP response headers, browser, operating system and the capture time in UTC.
Signed manifest
SHA-256 for every file, signed with an RSA-4096 key whose public key ships in the package.
Blockchain timestamp
The manifest hash anchored to Bitcoin via OpenTimestamps, so the capture time cannot be backdated.
Chain of custody and forensic log
A record of what happened during the capture, in the order it happened.
Evidence report as PDF
A readable summary you can attach to an application, a notice or a report.
Verification instructions
Written steps plus scripts, so the other side can re-check the hashes offline.
Anyone can verify it, including the other side. Drop the ZIP onto the public Trust Verifier, and the hashes, the signature and the timestamp are checked in the browser. Nothing is uploaded and nothing depends on ProofSnap still existing.
Three ways to get the evidence
Prices are charged in USD. Approximate rupee figures are for orientation only, converted at about ₹96 to US$1, and your card issuer sets the actual rate.
One matter
$4.99 once
about ₹480
A SnapPack is a single up-front purchase for a set number of captures. No subscription, no auto-renewal, no trial. Best when you have one matter and you want it documented today.
Get a SnapPackOngoing matters
$8.99/month
about ₹860
For anyone who captures regularly: advocates, compliance teams, investigators, brand protection. The 7-day free trial requires a payment card. Cancel any time during the trial and you are not charged.
Start the 7-day trialWe do it for you
$44.99 per URL
about ₹4,300
Send us the link and our team captures the package for you, with nothing to install. Useful when the capture should not come from a party to the dispute.
See the capture serviceProofSnap is not a law firm and does not give legal advice. India has no equivalent of an EU qualified timestamp, so the eIDAS option carries no presumption before an Indian court and is offered on Enterprise plans for cross-border matters. What section 63 of the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam asks for is the hash value of the record, which every package contains.
Official sources
Every figure and deadline on this page comes from the following primary sources. Check them yourself rather than taking our word for it.
- Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita 2023 section 356, defamation, in force from 1 July 2024.
- IT Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code Rules 2021 the grievance officer timelines and the removal obligation.
- Section 63, Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam 2023 the certificate requirement, including the hash value.
ProofSnap does not decide whether words are defamatory and nothing here is legal advice. What it fixes is what was published, by which account and when, so that the argument is about the law rather than about whether the post ever looked like that.
Questions people actually ask
The post can be deleted tonight
Capture it now, then choose the route. The record outlives the takedown.