Extracting someone’s mobile phone data without permission is against the constitution, Lahore High Court

Lahore: The High Court has declared in one of its decisions that extracting mobile phone data of someone without permission is against the constitution.

The court has acquitted a person who was sentenced to prison on charges of belonging to a terrorist organization and spreading material. A bench consisting of Justice Ali Baqir Najafi and Justice Amjad Rafiq gave the benefit of doubt and decided to acquit Rehmatullah. The accused arrested by the CTD was sentenced to a total of 10 years by the Anti-Terrorism Court.

The Lahore High Court in its decision said that extracting the phone data of the accused without the permission of the magistrate is against Article 13 of the Constitution. We are concerned that taking someone’s personal phone data is not a good practice as it is against privacy rights. The court feels that if the accused is not willing, at least the permission of the magistrate should be sought to take the phone records.

According to the text of the court decision, “In this modern age, we communicate with our near and dear ones through audio and video. Our phones are no less than our homes, every connection we make within the four walls of our home is constitutionally protected. A person looks at books, Google, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, which is not prohibited by law. While a person must keep his/her information on the phone secret, that information cannot be extracted without his/her permission or legal instructions.

The court held that if the acquisition of information is against the law, it can be stopped by law. According to the law, if mobile phone data is providing a link to a crime, it can be brought to the notice of the court within 24 hours. The allegation of distribution of materials by the prosecution is not supported by any evidence. The alleged material recovered from the mobile was not placed before the accused during the statement of any witness.