NEWSLAUNDRY SEEKING PROTECTION OF ITS DATA - DELHI HC

The bench of Justices Manmohan and Navin Chawla of the Delhi High Court issued a notice to the Income Tax department in a plea filed by Newslaundry seeking protection of its data after the IT Department authorities conducted a raid and, seized the phone and laptop of CEO Abhinandan Sekhri. 

This act of the IT department prompted Newslaundry to file a plea before the Court to protect its private data present on the devices. Senior Advocate Siddharth Dave, appearing for the petitioner, argued that the IT Department downloaded data of 300GB, which Sekhri's personal data took from his phone and other electronic devices. Dave contended that such an act amounts to a breach of the right to privacy.
Dave further argued that Sekhri's data will be leaked to the media and moreover, as per section 133A of the IT Act, the department does not have the power to seize any personal data. Therefore, Adv Dave prayed before the court to direct the IT authorities to not leak any data.
Advocate Ajit Sharma, Appearing on behalf of the Director-General of Income Tax, argued that there is no reason to apprehend that any personal data will be leaked. The data will be used as per the law. 
The Bench said, "We have seen several times that data has been leaked." The Court issued a notice and asked the department to provide an undertaking stating that they will not leak any data.

Author: Papiha Ghoshal