Legality of private detective agencies in India

In my recent blog, I shall discuss about the much debated question, i.e. whether or not it is legal to hire a detective/detective agency and does or, does it not violate the ‘Right to Privacy’ which has recently been included to be one of the latest Fundamental Rights by the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India.

My blog shall deal with three broad topics:-

1. Is it legal to hire a detective/detective agency?
2. Is there any Statutory Control?
3. Do such services violate the ‘Right to Privacy’?

Is it legal to hire a detective/detective agency?

By the very concept of hiring a detective/detective agency we mean to say that we hire certain professionals who are professionals in a specific work field having specific set of skills which involve monitoring, surveillance, gathering of evidence etc.

However, the question now arises is that the work which they do is hidden, not known to the other person and sometimes relates to eaves dropping and gathering personal data as evidence. It also involves unauthorised access and doing work without sanction like clicking photographs of people without them knowing that they are being clicked. This does look like a profession which works outside the parameters of legality.

Talking about India, at present there is no specific law or statute to regulate the working of such detective/detective agencies and due to that reason these agencies are free to work in the grey. Such private investigation agencies are legal and they can operate without any restrictions due to the absence of any law to regulate their code of conduct and define their scope of work. A lot of such agencies are freelancing, let alone being registered.

Is there any Statutory Control

At present there is a ‘Private Detective Regulation Bill, 2007’ which is still pending in the Parliament. This bill seeks to bring these detective agencies under a legal pretext so that the scope of investigation is defined as per prescribed limits which do not go against the law in any manner whatsoever.

The Private Detective Regulation Bill, 2007 contains a total of VII chapters and a total of 36 clauses. Chapters I and II deal with The Centre Private Detective Regulatory Board and The State Private Detective Regulatory Board respectively. Chapter IV deals with the requirement of a licence to carry such business of private detective and Chapter VI deals with the Offences and Penalties.

At present neither the Government nor the Laws of the Land have any control over such private detective. This is still an unexplored arena wherein the people who are working as detectives are at full liberty to go to any lengths so as to satisfy their customers. Due to the absence of any legal framework or regulation that can confine the scope of work this grey area of work is at present legal however, if my opinion is to be considered I shall say it is duly legal but definitely not ethical. 

Do such services violate the ‘Right to Privacy?’

The correct and justifiable answer to the same is still unclear. Do they violate the ‘Right to Privacy?’ per se YES. This is solely because of the modus operandi on which Private Detectives work. From the very word ‘Private’ it is clear that their work is to be done unnoticed and in the hidden. Now the question arises that if at all there are such restrictions on this profession will it not be a contradiction to the freedom to pursue any profession/trade? And if such profession is allowed to go without a specific demarcation, will it not be a breach of ‘Right to Privacy’ by the bare modus operandi they follow?

It is due to this conflict of Interest that there was a need for The Private Detective Regulation Bill, 2007.

Clause 28 in Chapter VI reads – “A private detective agent shall not violate the rights of an individual to privacy and freedom and for any such violation, the agent shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to six months and also with fine which may extend to fifty thousand rupees, in addition to the suspension or cancellation of the licence of the concerned private detective agency.”

By the very reading of such a provision it is beyond reasonable doubt that the intent of the Government is clear and that is to protect the privacy of an individual. The Private Detective Regulation Bill, 2007 makes it a punishable offence for any agent to violate the Fundamental ‘Right to Privacy’ of any individual, which puts it in direct contradiction with the common modus operandi of almost every detective.

While noting various Supreme Court observations on the issue of an individual’s right to privacy, the analysis went on to state: “All of these judgments are with regard to surveillance by state agencies, and it is unclear how they would apply when the surveillance is conducted by private agencies.”