Sharing Google Location With Police During Bail, Prima Facie Violation Of Right To Privacy: Supreme Court
New Delhi: The Supreme Court recently observed that the bail condition of sharing the live Google Map location throughout the bail period of the accused violates the right to privacy of the accused.
The division bench comprising Justice Abhay S Oka and Justice Pankaj Mithal was hearing the appeal filed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) against the Delhi High Court order granting bail to an internal auditor of the Shakti Bhog Foods Limited (SBFL). The internal auditor was arrested on charges of money laundering and bank fraud involving several crores.
The bail conditions says that the accused shall share the Google Map location with the investigation office throughout the bail period along with other conditions. The court was considering whether this condition was in violation of Article 21 of the Indian Constitution, especially the right to privacy. Justice Oka while hearing the matter asked Advocate Zoheb Hussain appearing for the Enforcement Directorate;
“You must explain to us the practical effect of such a condition. Once a person is set at liberty, certain conditions are imposed. But here you are tracking their movement after grant of bail, isn”t this violative of right to privacy”?
To this Advocate Zoheb Hussain responded that traditionally the accused on bail is required to report to the concerned investigation officer on a regular basis. In this scenario, only a new technology is used for the same purpose. To this court responded that it is not the same as tracking the live location of the accused the whole time.
The counsel for ED emphasised the landmark case of Puttaswamy v UOI. Under this case, the court held that the right to privacy can be compromised for the prevention of a crime. To this court replied that the current specific scenario was never discussed in the Puttaswamy case.
Under the current case, the accused was arrested on account of siphoning off a credit facility amount of Rs 3269.42 crores from a consortium of banks headed by SBI.
The matter has been listed for 12th December for further consideration.
