Share GPS live location with NIA 24x7: Supreme Court bail condition for Shoma Sen

The Supreme Court while granting bail to the Dalit and women's rights activist Shoma Sen in the Bhima Koregaon violence case imposed a unique set of conditions to enable access of her real time location to the National Investigation Agency (NIA) [Shoma Kanti Sen vs State of Maharashtra and Anr]..A bench of Justices Aniruddha Bose and Augustine George Masih directed Sen to ensure that her mobile phone always remains active and charged so that she is constantly accessible while she remains on bail.The Court further directed her to keep the Global Positioning System (GSP) active on her phone and share her 24x7 real time location with the Investigating Officer."During this period, i.e. the period during which she remains on bail, the appellant shall keep the location status (GPS) of her mobile phone active, twenty-four hours a day, and her phone shall be paired with that of the Investigating Officer of the NIA to enable him, at any given time, to identify the appellants’ exact location," the Court ordered..Besides the usual conditions for surrender of passport and not leaving the State of Maharashtra without the Special Court's permission, the Court also restrained her from using more than one SIM card."The appellant shall use only one mobile number, during the time she remains on bail, and shall inform her mobile number to the Investigating Officer of the NIA.".Pertinently, the Supreme Court itself has previously raised doubts with regard to bail condition asking accused to share their real time location with the prosecuting agencies. A different bench of Justices Abhay S Oka and Ujjal Bhuyan had, in February this year, directed Google India to explain how its PIN location-sharing feature on Google Maps works.That bench had said that it was proposing to examine whether such conditions violates the right to privacy of the accused person.In July 2023 as well, the top court had taken strong objection to a bail condition requiring an accused in a money-laundering case to constantly send the police the details of his location through Google Maps. The bench had orally observed that the same may amount to surveillance..On Friday, the top court had granted bail to Sen after noting that the NIA did not oppose her bail.Therefore, the Court also said that the stringent conditions for grant of bail under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) would not apply in her case."Section 43(D)(5) restriction should not apply to the petitioner. We have noted that Additional Solicitor General (who appeared for NIA) stated custody is no longer needed. Once we hold that 43(d)(5) of the 1967 act does not apply.... We have seen she is of advanced age and the effect of delaying trial at this stage.. in addition to her medical conditions. She should not be denied the privilege of being released on bail," the Court said in the judgment..Sen was arrested on June 6, 2018 and booked for offences under UAPA. She had first applied for bail before the Pune Sessions Court in December 2018 prior to filing of chargesheet and then moved another application after filing of chargesheet.Both the applications were rejected by the Sessions Court by way of a common order in November 2019.After this, the investigation in the case was transferred to the NIA and the trial was accordingly transferred to the Special Court.The Bombay High Court had last year directed her to approach the Special NIA court again for bail. However, she challenged the decision before the top court. The top court, while granting bail to Sen, remarked that the UAPA offences alleged against her prima facie were not made out..[Read Judgment]