Supreme Court of India
Credit: PTI Photo
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday sought responses from the Centre and probe agencies like the CBI and the ED among others on a plea seeking guidelines for search and seizure of digital devices.
A bench of justices B R Gavai and Sandeep Mehta issued notice on the petition filed by news portal NewsClick and its founder Prabir Purkayastha. The apex court said the matter will be heard along with pending petitions raising similar issues.
At the outset, the bench observed it does not appreciate everybody coming directly to the apex court with a petition under Article 32 of the Constitution.
Article 32 of the Constitution deals with remedies for enforcement of rights and 32 (1) says that right to move the apex court by appropriate proceedings for enforcement of rights conferred by this part is guaranteed.
Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for the petitioners, said they have approached the top court as other pleas raising similar issue have been entertained by the court and are currently pending.
He said in the pending petitions, the Centre has to come up with guidelines in this regard.
The bench issued notice to the Centre, the CBI, the Enforcement Directorate (ED), Income Tax department, Delhi Police and others seeking their responses on the plea.
While the apex court was hearing the pending petitions last month, the Centre had said several rounds of talks have been held in order to formulate guidelines for seizure of electronic devices like mobile phones and laptops of individuals, especially those from the media, in the course of criminal investigations.
The Centre had assured the court that till the time the new guidelines are put in place, central probe agencies will follow the CBI manual for search and seizure of such equipments.
The top court had on November 7 last year asked the Centre to put in place guidelines on seizure of electronic devices of individuals, particularly media professionals.
On October 19 last year, the apex court had sought the response of the Delhi Police on separate pleas of NewsClick founder and its HR head Amit Chakravarty against their arrest under the anti-terror law UAPA.
The Delhi High Court had on October 13 last year dismissed their pleas against arrest and subsequent police remand in the case. Both were arrested by the Special Cell of the Delhi Police on October 3, 2023.
The city police lodged cases against the two under anti-terror law Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) for allegedly receiving money to spread pro-China propaganda. They have denied the allegations.
According to the FIR, a large amount of funds to the news portal allegedly came from China to "disrupt the sovereignty of India" and cause disaffection against the country.