A bench of Justice Abhay S Oka and Justice Ujjal Bhuyan asked Google India to explain the working of its PIN location-sharing feature.
AMN / New Delhi
The Supreme Court today directed Google India to explain the working of its location sharing feature on the map of the internet search engine so that it could be considered to be included as a condition for the grant of bail to an accused.
A bench of Justice Abhay S Oka and Justice Ujjal Bhuyan asked Google India to explain the working of its PIN location-sharing feature, after the Central government failed to explain the working of the location sharing PIN on Google Map.
The issue is whether requiring an accused to continue providing investigators with information about his whereabouts is likely to infringe the individual’s right to privacy.
“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 infringe the individual’s right to privacy or not,” the bench observed.
The petitioner Frank Vitus – a Nigerian national – represented by advocate Varun Mishra has contended that location sharing conditions imposed by Delhi High Court violated his right to privacy.
Frank Vitus is facing prosecution for alleged offences under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act.
In the order passed on February 23, 2024, the court had issued notice to Google India asking the internet search engine to explain the working of its search location PIN.
The court in its order had said: “The said company shall file an affidavit along with the necessary documents explaining the working of google PIN in the context of putting a condition in the order granting bail. The issue is whether such a condition infringes the right to privacy.”
The concern of the court appears to be rooted in the 2017 top court constitution bench judgment which had unanimously declared that the right to privacy was a fundamental right.