Supreme Court: Police Cannot Probe Accused Person’s Private Life In Criminal Proceeding

GG News Bureau

New Delhi, 8th July On Monday, the Supreme Court ruled that a bail requirement cannot permit the police to snoop about the personal affairs of an accused person in a criminal case.

A Nigerian national’s bail condition, imposed by the Delhi High Court, requiring him to share the Google Maps pin on his mobile device with the investigating officer in a drugs case, was overturned by a bench of Justices Abhay S. Oka and Ujjal Bhuyan.

“There cannot be a bail condition defeating the very objective of bail itself,” Justice Oka declared after rendering the decision. Google pin cannot be a condition of release, as we have stated. A bail requirement that would allow the police to follow the accused around at all times cannot exist.

The accused person on bail cannot have police prying into their personal lives.”

Frank Vitus, a national of Nigeria, contested the bail requirement in a narcotics case, and the court delivered its decision in response to his request.

The Supreme Court said on April 29 that it would consider whether a Delhi High Court order requiring an accused person to “drop a Google pin” from his cell phone so that investigators could follow him while he was out on bail violated his basic right to privacy. The court had postponed making a decision on the matter.

On August 24, 2017, a nine-judge Constitution bench unanimously ruled in a historic ruling that the right to privacy was guaranteed by the Constitution.

The highest court acknowledged the requirement and declared that, on the face of it, it violated the accused’s expanded right to privacy while they were out on bond.

The High Court has already placed similar bond requirements—sharing a Google pin—on other accused parties in various cases. These bond requirements for other accused parties have also been noted by the Supreme Court.

Raman Bhuraria was granted bail by the Delhi High Court on February 8th, this year. In relation to a money laundering investigation stemming from a purported financial irregularity complaint against Shakti Bhog Foods Ltd. for Rs 3,269 crore, he was taken into custody.

“The applicant shall drop a Google pin location from his mobile phone to the IO concerned which shall be kept operational throughout his bail,” was one of the requirements set forth by the high court in the bail package.