Articles
Arbitrary seizure of media professionals' digital devices OF Media person SC objected
Arbitrary
seizure of media professionals' digital devices OF Media person SC objected
Foundation
for Media Professionals v. Union of India & Ors. |
Writ
Petition (Criminal) No. 395 of 2022
The Supreme Court on
Tuesday (November 7) expressed concerns over the arbitrary seizure of media
professionals' digital devices and stressed the need for better guidelines to
protect their interests.
A public interest
litigation (PIL) filed by the Foundation for Media Professionals through Advocate-on-Record
Rahul Narayan urging the court to establish safeguards against
unreasonable interference by law enforcement agencies and create comprehensive
guidelines for search and seizure of digital devices.
CONTENTION
OF PIL
"There
are hundreds of journalists whose digital devices are taken away en masse. The
issues raised in this petition are very significant because there are no
guidelines with reference to when and what may be seized, what can be accessed,
what kind of protection is ensured for personal data, health data, financial
data...The entire digital footprint is on that one device. Once an investigating
agency is involved, it's not like the person can have a back-up..."
SUPREME COURT
OBSERVED
Justice Kaul, however,
stressed the importance of guidelines to protect journalists from arbitrary
seizures -
"It's a serious
matter. These are media professionals who will have their own sources and other
things. There must be some guidelines. If you take everything away, there's a
problem. You must ensure that there are some guidelines."
Justice Kaul firmly said that
guidelines were required to ensure that the powers of the agency were not
misused in this respect -
“I'm finding it very difficult to
accept some kind of all-within power that the agencies have...This is very
dangerous. You must have better guidelines. If you want us to do it, we'll do
it. But my view is that you ought to do it yourself.
Quoted Example :
the Supreme Court
issued its famous Vishaka guidelines on sexual harassment, the
foundation has urged the court to issue guidelines to strike a balance between
the right to privacy in the digital space and the legitimate interests of law
enforcement, in line with established judgments.
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