The Andhra Pradesh High Court, in the recently delivered judgement has ruled that there is nothing wrong in refusing to hand over one’s mobile phones to investigators for the process of forensic examination and seizure.
Justice VRK Krupa Sagar granted bail in “Avuthu Srinivas Reddy Versus The Station House Officer,” to former Member of Parliament N Suresh Babu and businessman Avutu Srinivasa Reddy, accused of an alleged attack on the Telugu Desam Party office by YSR Congress Party workers in 2021.
The state had opposed the bail application, accusing these two of making it hard for them to investigate because they put their mobile devices way out of reach.
The police needed these phones to get WhatsApp chats and Google timelines that were relevant to the case. However, the court clarified that inability to seize these devices does not impede the investigation process.
Relying upon a Delhi High Court precedent which held that passwords and other private information cannot be extracted from an accused person because of the constitutional right not to incriminate oneself under Article 20(3).
The court stated, “In the light of the above principles, the failure of the accused in submitting their mobile phones while in custody cannot be termed as non-cooperation from the accused”.
The court also acknowledged that the evidence thus far adduced had suggested some connection of the accused to the events outside the TDP office, and noted that the prosecution had to justify their continued detention.
The state also hinted at other suspects still being at large with a probable larger conspiracy for which the investigation against these particular accused was effectively complete.
The Court remarked, “The contention of the State is that there are other accused who are still at large and there is larger conspiracy which is to be unearthed. Those contentions show that qua these accused, investigation stood completed. They were arrested on 04.09.2024 and were remanded to judicial custody on 05.09.2024 and for the last one month, they have been in judicial custody.”
Having been arrested on September 4, 2024 and sent to custodian the day following, both the accused have undergone judicial custody for a month now.
It has further been noted by the high court that nearly 34 other accused in this case were already granted bail by either the High Court or the trial court.
Granting bail to the accused the honourable court said, “All these facts being considered in the light of the nature of the crime committed, this court finds any continued detention unnecessary. Hence, prayer is granted”.
The court, considering the facts against the nature of the alleged crime, considered further detention unnecessary and granted bail to the accused.
On behalf of the petitioners stood senior advocates Siddarth Dave, P Veera Reddy, and P Sudhakar Reddy, while on behalf of the state stood senior advocate Siddharth Luthra along with Public Prosecutor C Lakshmi Narayana.