The Supreme Court on Monday orally observed that requiring an accused to share his or her Google location pin with the investigating officer to facilitate tracking of movement may be a violation of the right to privacy.
A Bench headed by Justice A.S. Oka reserved its verdict on an appeal filed by a Nigerian national — Frank Vitus, who is an accused in a drugs case — challenging a Delhi High Court order of 2022, mandating him to share his Google Map location with the probe officer as a condition for his bail.
The apex court had earlier asked Google for its assistance to understand the technology better and test it on the threshold of fundamental rights.
In October 2023, Justice Oka’s Bench had dealt with the similar question of law in a separate case which involved allegations of money laundering. In that, the Delhi High Court, again, had granted bail to Raman Bhuraria, an auditor. One of the bail conditions was for Bhuraria to “drop a Google pin location from his mobile phone to the Investigating Officer concerned, which shall be kept operational throughout his bail”.
Mr. Bhuraria had been arrested in connection with a money laundering probe involving an alleged Rs 3,269 crore financial irregularity case against Shakti Bhog Foods Ltd.
