Not collecting CDRs of COVID-19 patients but details of tower locations Kerala police

Thiruvananthapuram, Aug 14 (PTI) Amid the row over the
phone call detail records issue, the Kerala police on Friday
clarified that it was not collecting CDRs of COVID-19 patients
as part of contact tracing but details of tower locations to
ensure that a quarantined person was not roaming around.
     The Opposition Congress had yesterday slammed the
ruling Left over its decision to allow police to use the CDRs
of COVID-19 patients for effective contact tracing, saying it
was an "infringement" on the privacy of citizens and the state
cannot be allowed to be converted into a "Police State."
     In a explanatory note, the state police department
said it was utilising the possibilities of technology to trace
the contacts of the COVID-19 patients in a legal manner.
     "The collection of such data was not infringing the
privacy of anyone.The centre has also issued guidelines in
this regard.
     The contents of the calls made are not collected.
The department is collecting details of the tower locations in
order to contain the spread of the virus through contact," the
department said in its release.
     The Congress had alleged that the collection of
phone details by police was an infringement on the privacy of
an individual which is against the Supreme Court's latest
judgement in the K S Puttaswamy case.
     Opposition Leader Ramesh Chennithala had also
claimed that as there were delays in sending the CDRs by
telecom operators in some places, the Additional Director
General of Police, Intelligence, had been entrusted to take up
the matter with BSNL and Vodafone.
     Police said the quarantine tracking was being done
in Keralain full compliance with the orders and prescribed
standards of the Government of India and using the application
developed by the Startups.
     "The telephone tower location details are used to
create the route map of the infected person who may spread the
disease.It also warns people to remain vigilant," police said.
     The release also said the people were cooperating
well with the COVID mitigation efforts of the state government
and asked "those who spread misleading news to desist from
their attempts" in creating confusion.
     The government decided to use police help in
containment measures as the COVID figures began rising in the
state.
     Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan had on Wednesday
said that CDRs were being used by the police as part of
adopting innovative and scientific methods for effective
contact tracing.
     The details would not be used for any other purpose
and there would be no intrusion into the privacy of the
patients, he had said, adding this was the "most effective"
way of contact tracing and the state had been using this
method for a few months.
     Justice D Y Chandrachud, while delivering the main
judgement in August 2017 on behalf of Chief Justice J S
Khehar, Justices R K Agarwal and S Abdul Naeer,held that
privacy was intrinsic to life, liberty, freedom and dignity
and therefore, is an inalienable natural right.
     The Congress-led UDF had also attacked the
government for entrusting major responsibilities of COVID
containment such as identification of containment zones,
monitoring of those in quarantine and contact tracing, from
the health department to police, saying this would create
"police raj."
     With COVID-19 cases continuing to rise, the
Pinarayi Vijayan-led government early this month decided to
bring in stringent measures to contain the spread and had
entrusted police with the task of contact tracing and
enforcing quarantine protocols.
     The Indian Medical Association had also flayed the
decision, saying this was a job of health workers.PTI RRT BN
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(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)