An Accra High Court last Thursday held a landmark decision that the police have no power to seize and search a person's electronic gadgets without a court warrant. The police arrested the applicant, Edmund Addo, on May 27, 2016 and seized his cellular phone, laptop, internet modem and hard drive.
They then forced the applicant to provide his passwords but he refused.
They later engaged the services of some IT experts to access the phone and the laptop with the purpose of using the evidence gathered to prosecute the applicant.
The suit
The applicant therefore filed a suit on June 13, 2016 and prayed the court to, among other things, declare that his rights to privacy, property, fair trial or education had been, were being or were likely to be violated by the respondents, namely the Inspector General of Police (IGP) and the Attorney-General (AG).
Counsel for the applicant, Mr Justice Srem-Sai, also prayed the court to restrain the respondents from further interfering with or violating the above-mentioned rights of the applicant and for the immediate return of the said laptop and mobile phone to the applicant or deposit same with the trial court.
Mr Srem-Sai argued that the police, having already taken custody of the gadgets, had no power to access their content without a court warrant authorising them to do so.
Counsel further argued that having seized the gadgets, the police could not access their contents without first obtaining a search warrant from the courts.
The AG argued that crime was ground for suspending the right of a person to privacy.
The decision
The court, presided over by Mr Justice Anthony Yeboah, upheld the argument of counsel, saying the conduct of the police amounted to a violation of the rights of privacy and fair trial.
The court, accordingly, ordered the IGP to submit the said gadgets to the registrar of the trial court within 14 days.
Mr Srem-Sai later told journalists that the court’s decision was very welcoming and its potential ripple effect on all communication gadget users in Ghana was a victory for the rule of law.
Source: Daily Graphic
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This is happening right now as I'm typing this! They will follow you to wherever you are, they will even come to your home and arrest you because you have a laptop. I don't know what they are trying to achieve in the country right now There are issues at hand, there criminals in the country they should be striking down and leave the students alone. I can't even take my laptop to school anymore because of the police. They will arrest and beat you up before anything else. I don't want them to kill me because of my own gadget so I thought the best thing to do is to leave my laptop at home wherever I go. This is just not making sense and if things should start this way, there is going to be riot in this country! What are they trying to achieve by harassing the young people of this country? Are they here to protect or molest us? This is just ignorance at its first peak! You don't want to see a student with a laptop or an iPhone ... WTF! ...because you don't use an iPhone or your child doesn't have a laptop? Just let us be, before things gets out of hand, because I will personally kill a police if I can before he cripple me or send me to jail because of my own property!! They will end your life and at the end...nobody will do anything about it!
black and white uniformed men Always harassing people because they(people) stood their grounds and refuse to compromise huh. They take issues personally with bruised egos forgetting they represent the GH government of which we are all part. this serves them right. I hope they've learned their lessons.Justice Srem Sai be ready we have more cases for you.
Counsel won the case. That is the essence of the accusatorial system. But Mr. IGP and your counsel in court, I do not know the kind of argument you put up in response but.... you must GO ON APPEAL