SC calls for norms on seizure of devices by probe agencies

Unchecked powers with the investigating agencies to search and seize digital devices during probes is not only "very very dangerous" but also impacts the privacy of individuals, the Supreme Court said on Tuesday, imploring the Centre to come up with guidelines on confiscation of devices, such as mobile phones and laptops, within four weeks.

- Utkarsh Anand

"It is dangerous all powers are with the agencies...it is very very dangerous," remarked a bench of justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Sudhanshu Dhulia while hearing a petition filed by the Foundation for Media Professionals (FMP) demanding regulation of the police's power to search or seize digital devices.

Addressing additional solicitor general SV Raju, who appeared for the Centre, the bench said that the issue was "serious" because media professionals will have the details of their sources in their devices. Other people, it added, will have equal concerns for privacy, which is now acknowledged as a fundamental right.

"There must be some guidelines. It is a matter of privacy," it told the ASG, who responded that investigating agencies cannot be shut out completely. Raju added that devices need to be scanned fully to identify what is required for an investigation.

"This all-pervading power", the court said, "is dangerous", when there are no guidelines to regulate search and seizure. "You must have some guidelines. You want us to do it, we will do it. But my view is that you ought to do it yourself. It can't be a State that's run through its agencies. You must analyse what kind of guidelines are necessary to protect (people)... This is not adversarial," it told the ASG.