New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday directed the Central government to file a fresh reply on a plea seeking guidelines to govern the investigating agencies with respect to the seizure, examination and preservation of personal digital and electronic devices.
The bench comprising of Justice SK Kaul and Justice MM Sundresh told the Centre that merely saying that the petition is not maintainable is not enough and the reply should contain proper references to international practices with respect to digital devices. Court said that the devices have "personal contents and we have to protect this, people live on this."
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The court was hearing the plea filed by academicians and researchers who had contended that devices have a lot of personal information as well as all the research done by them. "Confiscation of devices by investigative agencies without any regulation can lead to tampering," they said.
"A hard drive is a source of so much information which can be interpreted and misinterpreted, and the copy of what is seized must remain with an accused in a form that can not be overwritten or changed so that he can offer his own interpretation of what is present, including involuntary downloads, access and any interpolation can be detected," contended the petitioners. The matter will be heard again on 26th September.
