New Delhi: Referring to the recent Supreme Court verdict on confidentiality, the Delhi High Court has raised the question that if private messages can be trusted in evidence in criminal investigations
A bench of Justices Siddharth Mridul and Najmi Waziri asked in a recent hearing whether the message sent on Blackberry Messenger (BBM) can be considered as a fundamental right after the decision of SC declaring confidentiality.
High Court said that the government and ED will have to address this point while hearing a petition filed by meat exporter and businessman Moin Qureshi, recently arrested by ED in the meat export case. He has filed a petition that the ED was arrested, by arresting him violating the Constitution.
Qureshi’s lawyer R K Handoo argued, “What kind of reverse investigation is there? There is no basis for arrest.”
HC said that the ED should understand its decision as to whether the reliance on private messages between the accused in a criminal case can come under “proper restrictions” in the context of Article 21 of the Constitution.
Check that, acceptance of the private message as acceptable: High Court
While issuing notice to the Center and ED, Delhi HC noted, “We want to know whether we can look at these BBM messages after the decision of the 9-bench SC, even though these private messages can be seen as evidence to be accepted as an integral part of Article 21 (life and liberty) of the Constitution. Please check, as we want to know. ”
According to the ED, Quraishi was arrested on the basis of BBC messages held between several people accused in former CBI chief AP Singh and other criminal cases.
The court listed the case for September 13, which states that “In view of the petitioner’s lawyer’s presentation, he has not been notified on the basis of his custody in the matter of constitutional compulsion under Article 22, issued notice It is necessary, “it said.
