Guidelines needed for seizure of electronic devices from journalists, says Supreme Court

The Supreme Court on Tuesday said that the Central government should put in place guidelines for the search and seizure of media persons’ digital devices, reported Live Law.

A bench of Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Sudhanshu Dhulia was hearing a public interest litigation by the Foundation for Media Professionals. The foundation has urged the court to establish safeguards against unreasonable interference by law enforcement agencies.

“There are hundreds of journalists whose digital devices are taken away en masse,” senior advocate Siddharth Agarwal, appearing for the petitioner, told the court. “The issues raised in this petition are very significant because there are no guidelines regarding when and what may be seized, what can be accessed, what kind of protection is ensured for personal data, health data, financial data.”

Appearing for the Centre, Additional Solicitor General SV Raju said that investigating agencies cannot be shut out from examining such devices as they have to go through the data to find the relevant portion.

Justice Kaul, however, said that the practice could be “very dangerous”.

“You must have better guidelines,” he said. “If you want us to do it, we will do it. But my view is that you ought to do it yourself. It’s time that you ensure that this is not misused. It...

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