The Supreme Court was addressing an appeal challenging a Delhi High Court directive instructing a Nigerian citizen to mark a PIN on Google Maps to disclose his whereabouts to authorities as a bail requirement in a drug-related case.
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NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court has instructed Google India to clarify the functionality of its PIN location-sharing feature on Google Maps, aiming to determine whether its usage as a condition for bail might violate privacy rights.
Justices Abhay S Oka and Ujjal Bhuyan’s bench has requested Google to provide an explanation by April 8, the date set for the next hearing, without formally making Google India a respondent in the case but seeking information regarding the operational aspects of Google PINs.
“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 condition infringes the right to privacy. We make it clear that we are not impleading Google India Private Limited as a party respondent,”
-stated the bench.
The Supreme Court was reviewing an appeal against specific bail conditions set by the Delhi High Court for Frank Vitus, a Nigerian national accused in a narcotics case.
In 2022, the Delhi High Court had mandated Vitus and a co-accused to drop a PIN on Google Maps to ensure their location availability to the investigating officer, alongside obtaining an assurance from the High Commission of Nigeria regarding their presence in India for trial.
Vitus contested these conditions before the Supreme Court, which expressed dissatisfaction with the stringent terms, indicating that securing such assurances from embassies might not be feasible.
“Hence, we direct that the petitioner shall be released on interim bail on the terms and conditions incorporated in the impugned order except for the condition regarding dropping a PIN on the Google map and obtaining assurance from the High Commission of Nigeria,”
-decreed the Court.
Consequently, interim bail was granted to the accused, with the bail surety amount reduced from Rs 2 lakhs to Rs 50,000.
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Senior Advocate Vinay Navare serves as the Amicus Curiae in this case, with Advocate Varun Mishra representing the Nigerian national and Additional Solicitor General Vikramjit Banerjee appearing for the Narcotics Control Bureau.
In a related development, another bench led by Justice Oka had previously expressed concerns about a bail condition requiring an accused in a money-laundering case to continually share Google pin location details with the police, suggesting potential surveillance implications.
CASE TITLE:
Frank Vitus vs Narcotics Control Bureau and ors.
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