Supreme Court To Hear Plea Seeking Guidelines For Seizure Of Electronic Devices On November 2

The Supreme Court on Friday(October 13) agreed to hear a Writ Petition seeking guidelines for the seizure of personal electronic devices by investigating agencies on November 2, 2023.

The matter was mentioned by Senior Advocate Nitya Ramakrishnan before the Bench of Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Sudhanshu Dhulia, and she requested for an early hearing.

“I will not take more than 10 minutes, I promise.,” Ramakrishnan asserted.

Thereafter, the Court posted the matter on November 2. Recently, in the wake of the raids by the Delhi Police of the journalists of NewsClick, a group of media organizations had written to the Chief Justice of India seeking guidelines for seizure of electronic devices of journalists.

Pertinently, petitioners are 5 academicians and had filed the present petition through Advocate S Prasanna. Therein, they have pleaded:

“The powers of search & seizure, particularly because they engage fundamental rights such as the right to privacy, the right against self-incrimination, and the right of protection of privileged communication, ought to be therefore read and supplied with adequate safeguards such that they are not abused to defeat such rights. It is imperative that this Hon'ble Court lays down inviolable guidelines therefore.”

Previously, the Supreme Court had imposed a cost of Rs. 25,000 on the Union Government for not filing a counter-affidavit in response to the aforesaid writ petition.

In the reply filed by the Government, the Centre had stated that there can be no blanket orders to return seized devices which are under investigation.

As per the centre, while right to privacy is implicit in the concept of individual autonomy and liberty, it is not an absolute right and can be subjected to restrictions based on compelling public interest.

Contents of the Petition

As already mentioned, petitioners are 5 academicians; former Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) professor and researcher, Ram Ramaswamy; Professor at Savitribai Phule Pune University, Sujata Patel; Professor of Cultural Studies at the English and Foreign Languages University, Madhava Prasad; Professor of Modern Indian history at Jamia Millia Islamia, Mukul Kesavan; and theoretical ecological economist Deepak Malghan.

It is their case that the entirely unguided power exercised by investigative agencies to take control of devices that contained a citizen’s personal and professional life, required to be civilised by way of directives from the Supreme Court.

“The academic community does and stores its research and writing in the electronic or digital medium, and the threat of damage, distortion, loss or premature exposure of academic or literary work in the event of seizure of electronic devices is considerable.,” the petition argued.

In this context, the petition sought directions to police and investigative agencies, working under the control of Central and State Governments for specifying guidelines with regards to seizure, examination and preservation of personal digital and electronic devices and their contents thereof.

Case Title: Ram Ramaswamy And Ors. v. Union of India And Ors. WP(Crl) No. 138/2021