NEW DELHI: In a significant ruling, the Supreme Court on Monday said that it was not permissible for courts to order an accused to share his Google pin location with the authorities as a condition to grant bail.This order would protect the accused’s privacy when they would be enlarged on bail in a case. Justice Abhay S Oka and Justice Ujjal Bhuyan,in their verdict said that there can’t be bail conditions defeating the very objective of bail. There can’t be a bail condition enabling the police to constantly track the movement of the accused persons (while on bail).The apex court set aside the bail condition imposed by the Delhi HC, requiring the accused to share the Google Maps PIN in his mobile device with the investigating officer, when the accused is enlarged on bail. While noting that there cannot be bail conditions that defeat the purpose of granting bail, the bench also relaxed a bail condition that required the foreign accused to obtain an assurance from his Embassy that they would not leave India. The top court pronounced the order, after hearing an appeal filed by the Prosecution, against an order of the bail granted by the Delhi HC to an accused – a Nigerian citizen Frank vitus VS NCB — in a case registered under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act.The top court was examining whether a bail condition requiring an accused to drop a pin on Google Maps for the investigating officer to access his location violates a person’s right to privacy.
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