Overview
- A Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court found that police forced entry into a woman’s bedroom at about 11:30 pm and seized her mobile phone without following required procedures.
- The judges held the conduct amounted to a serious invasion of privacy and dignity under Article 21 in an order passed on July 3 that was made public on July 13.
- The court identified clear non‑compliance with BNSS Section 185, which requires written reasons and audio/video recording for urgent searches, and Section 105, which requires a seizure memo, independent witnesses and an acknowledgement.
- The State of Maharashtra was ordered to pay Rs 10,000 to the 26‑year‑old petitioner within two months and allowed to recover that sum from the responsible officer(s); the court also directed return of the phone if it is no longer needed for investigation.
- The ruling reinforces that investigators cannot bypass mandatory BNSS safeguards even for active probes and connects to wider Indian privacy law by treating privacy and dignity as integral to the right to life and personal liberty.