Justice Gyanendra Bahadur Karki issued the show cause notice after an initial hearing on a petition filed by three advocates and a journalist. [break]
Advocates Baburam Aryal, Tankaraj Aryal and Santosh Babu Sigdel and Journalist Taranath Dahal had moved the apex court on Thursday demanding that the court order Nepal Police to destroy phone calls and SMS details collected during investigations.
Stating that the country lacks clear laws on monitoring phone calls and SMS details, the petitioners have sought the apex court´s directive on formation of a separate law on protecting citizens´ data.
They have also claimed that the police move has violated fundamental rights of the citizens as per Article 28 of the Interim Constitution and other international laws.
The petitioners have made the government, Ministry of Home Affairs, Ministry of Information and Communications, Nepal Police, Nepal Telecommunication Authority, Nepal Telecom, Ncell Private Ltd and United Telecom Limited as defendants.
During investigations into the assassination of Supreme Court Justice Rana Bahadur Bam, police had collected details of calls made from 500,000 phones and SMS of 30,000 mobile subscribers.
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