NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday directed Google to explain and let the court to understand as to how its PIN location-sharing feature on its Map works.
The SC asked Google to apprise it, and did so, as the top court said, it would examine later whether sharing location as a pre-condition of bail to an accused person would violate the right to his privacy when he is made to share such details.
A two-judge bench of the top court, led by Justice Abhay S Oka and also comprising Justice Ujjal Bhuyan, said this while hearing an appeal filed by the Prosecution, against an order of the bail granted by the Delhi high court to an accused – a Nigerian national -- in a case registered under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act.
"We need to examine whether if an accused (on the orders of the court) has to provide the investigators with his detailed information about their whereabouts, then will it likely to infringe the individual’s right to privacy or not," the bench observed.
The Supreme Court in its earlier order on February 23 had asked Google India to file a detailed affidavit explaining the technical aspects of dropping a PIN in the context of putting it as a condition of granting bail to an accused person.
It is significant to note here that earlier in 2017, a nine-judge Constitution bench of the Top Court in its landmark verdict had unanimously declared that the right to privacy was a fundamental right under the Constitution.
The Apex Court earlier also sought the detailed affidavit from Google India, and wanted to know from it about the technical aspects of it, after the Union government failed to properly apprise and explain how the Google Maps PIN works.
“The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (Meity) has given an affidavit and has suggested that as far as working of the Google PIN is concerned, it’s appropriate if the information is sought from Google India Pvt Ltd," the Apex Court had earlier said and took this into record.
The Top Court clarified in its order that we are not impleading them (Google India) as a party and or respondent in the case but only for obtaining information on the working of the Google PIN, we are issuing a notice to Google India.
During one of its hearings, the top court, however, observed and remarked that the condition of sharing of Google PIN may prima facie offend the privacy rights of the accused, as guaranteed under the Indian constitution.
The Apex Court also had earlier observed that when once an accused has been enlarged on bail by courts with the conditions set by it, it might be improper to know and track his or hers whereabouts, as it might led to hamper their right to privacy.