‘They should safeguard information retrieved from gadgets’ The High Court of Karnataka has declared that action for dereliction of duty or other proceedings can be initiated against investigation officers (IOs) if they are found to have furnished to any third party, data retrieved from electronic gadgets that could impinge on privacy of any person connected to the probe in criminal cases. The court also declared that it is the responsibility of the officers to safeguard the information or data retrieved from electronic gadgets such as smartphones, computers, laptops and storage units, including cloud-based storage, email accounts, etc. “The disclosure, making public or otherwise in court proceedings, would have to be determined by the judge of the court concerned by passing a judicial order. In no case could such details or data be provided by the investigation officer to any third party during the course of investigation without the written permission from the court concerned,” it held.