'Agencies will follow CBI manual on seized devices'

THE APEX COURT GAVE THE CENTRAL GOVT SIX WEEKS' TIME TO FRAME FRESH GUIDELINES ON THE SEARCH AND SEIZURE OF DIGITAL DEVICES

- Utkarsh Anand

The Union government on Thursday assured the Supreme Court that all federal agencies will henceforth follow the 2020 Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) manual and provide the hash value of digital devices, such as mobile phones and laptops, confiscated during investigations.

In order to protect the authenticity of the seized electronic devices, the Information Technology Act mandates the generation of their hash values. Hash value is an electronic fingerprint of a digital device, and records changes if contents in the device are tampered with after seizure.

The Centre's statement was recorded by a bench of justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Sudhanshu Dhulia as an interim arrangement while granting the government six weeks to come up with fresh guidelines on the search and seizure of digital devices.

"Additional solicitor general (ASG) SV Raju says that in the conspectus of the existing CBI manual, Karnataka manual and the Code of Criminal Procedure, number of discussions have taken place and that he will need six more weeks. He has further assured the court that for the time being the CBI manual will be followed," the bench recorded in its order, fixing the next hearing of the matter on February 6.

The Centre's undertaking over sharing of the hash value by its agencies, including CBI and the Enforcement Directorate (ED), came amid the court's concerns that there to be "something in the interregnum" to guide the agencies when they confiscate devices.