Supreme Court Says Courts Cannot Ask Accused To Share Their Live Location For The Bail

Legal News by - MALLA GREESHMA (This News was written by her during her Internship)

The Supreme Court of the India has stated that Instinct on accused individuals to share their live locations with the investigating agencies as a condition for bail is Violation of the right to Privacy.

A bench of the Justice Abhay S oka and Ujjal Bhuyan articulate that bail conditions should only through bond with the Constitutional rights of the accused were necessary minimum, They rail against conditions that are “fanciful, arbitrary or freakish”.

The court Interpret about the bail conditions are appropriately, like the accused should report periodically to a police station or not allowed traveling abroad without permission, but demanding live location sharing is excessive.

This would allow the investigating agency to continuously monitor the Accused’s steps, which violates their right to privacy under Article 21 of the Indian Constitution.

Even the Supreme Court mentioned clearly that the accused should not Interfere with the investigation, tampering the evidence or obstruct the trial for the bails condition.

Some circumstances, the court may impose conditions for accused to restrict entering a particular area to protect witnesses or Victims, it means that not like accused constantly inform to the police about their movement , this would identical to keeping a constant vigil on the accused, which is not permissible.

The court stated that even Individuals convicted and serving prison sentences retain their rights to life and privacy.

So, the rights of the accused person released on bail should be restricted only to the minimum extent necessary and Supreme Court even acknowledgment a specific case where Google’s response was noted.

If we go through with details of case

The Delhi High Court was passed a an appeal against certain conditions on granting interim bail to a Nigerian national who was accused on drug case in 2022.

The Delhi Court given a directions to the accused and Co accused persons to drop a pin on a Google map to ensure the their movements and location was accessible for the investigating officers who was in charge of the case.

The Delhi High Court were asked accused to get an word of honour from the high Commission of Nigeria that they would not leave India until the trial complete.

Supreme Court pointed out that requiring the accused to drop a pin on Google maps was ineffective for real- time tracking, the bench rendering this condition was redundant and unnecessary.

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