Police can't unnecessarily obtain call detail records: Karnataka High Court

The Karnataka High Court recently held that the call detail records (CDR) of a person are private and that such information cannot be collected unnecessarily by the police when there is no ongoing official investigation which requires the collection of such information..Justice Suraj Govindaraj made the observation while refusing to quash a criminal case filed against Sub-Inspector of Byatarayanapura Police Station Vidya VM on allegations that she illegally collected the CDRs of a woman. The Court held that the CDRs of an individual are personal, private details and that unnecessarily collecting such details would violate the right to privacy. If police are allowed to obtain CDRs that are not part of a lawful investigation, it would lead to a police state, the judge added during the hearing..Vidya VM and some other co-accused persons, are presently facing a criminal case under Sections 354(D) (stalking), 409 (criminal breach of trust), 506 (criminal intimidation) and 509 (word, gesture, act intended to insult modesty) of the Indian Penal Code, apart from Sections 66(D) (cheating by personation using computer resource) and 66(E) (privacy violation) of the Information Technology Act, 2000. She stands accused of illegally obtaining the call detail records of a woman. The woman claimed that police officials illegally accessed her CDRs and shared them with others against whom she had filed another criminal case. The woman alleged that these CDRs were misused by the co-accused, who were troubling her. These allegations led the woman to file a private complaint against Vidya and others. In December 2024, a trial court summoned Vidya and others accused in the case. Vidya eventually approached the High Court to quash the case against her. Her counsel, Advocate Satyanarayan Chalke, argued that the police officer had sought the CDRs in the discharge of her official duties. .However, the Court declined to grant any relief, observing that unnecessarily acquiring the CDRs of a person would violate the right to privacy, as laid down in the Supreme Court's ruling in the Puttaswamy case.The power to obtain the CDR of any individual should only be exercised during a lawful investigation by the investigating officer, the Court said before dismissing the police officer's plea.