Sharing Google pin location as bail condition hit by right to privacy under Article 21: Supreme Court

The Supreme Court on Monday observed that the condition of sharing Google pin location as a bail condition is hit by the right to privacy guaranteed under Article 21 of the Indian Constitution. [Frank Vitus v. Narcotics Control Bureau and Ors]..A Bench of Justices Abhay S Oka and Ujjal Bhuyan said,"It cannot be a bail condition. We agree that there are two instances where this Court has done it, but it cannot be a condition for bail," the Court said. .Share GPS live location with NIA 24x7: Supreme Court bail condition for Shoma Sen.The Bench had earlier directed Google India to explain how its pin location-sharing feature on Google Maps works. This, with a view to examining whether directing accused persons to share their Google pin location would violate their right to privacy.The Court had clarified that it is not impleading Google India as a party to the case, but was only seeking information from the company..After hearing Google today, the Court reserved orders on the aspect of Google pin location as a bail condition. For the rest of the issues, the matter has been listed for hearing on July 26..Senior Advocate Vinay Navare is amicus curiae in the matter.Advocate Varun Mishra appeared for the petitioner and Additional Solicitor General Vikramjit Banerjee appeared for the Narcotics Control Bureau..The top court was dealing with an appeal against certain conditions imposed by the Delhi High Court in its order granting interim bail to a Nigerian national, Frank Vitus, who was an accused in a drugs case.As a condition for the grant of bail, the High Court in 2022 had ordered the accused man and a co-accused to drop a pin on Google Maps to ensure that their location was available to the Investigation Officer of the case.The accused were also asked by the Delhi High Court to get an assurance from the High Commission of Nigeria that the accused would not leave India and would appear before the trial court.The Supreme Court had earlier expressed its disapproval over these conditions, and granted interim bail to the accused.On a related note, another Bench led by Justice Oka had in July last year 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 by sharing Google pins. The Bench had orally observed that the same may amount to surveillance.