By- Devansh Malhotra and Kanishk Goyal

The integration of digital surveillance into bail practices has reshaped the criminal justice landscape and has raised critical questions about its compatibility with constitutional safeguards and international human rights. While tools such as GPS tracking and geofencing offer practical alternatives to pretrial detention, they also pose significant privacy and dignity concerns. Herbert Packer’s Crime Control and Due Process models provide a theoretical lens to analyse this issue, highlighting the tension between public safety and individual rights. In India, the evolving legal framework, including the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023, and judicial precedents like KS Puttaswamy v Union of India, emphasize proportionality, fairness, and privacy. However, inconsistencies in judicial decisions and the absence of robust regulatory mechanisms challenge the delicate balance between surveillance efficiency and rights protection. This paper explores the implications of electronic monitoring, advocates for nuanced guidelines, and proposes harmonizing digital advancements with constitutional values, ensuring justice does not come at the cost of fundamental freedoms.

Keywords: Digital Surveillance, Bail Jurisprudence, Privacy Rights, Proportionality Principle, Herbert Packer Models