Digital Legacy: According to media reports, the matter reached a civil court in Gandhinagar, Gujarat, when a family was trying to access the locked iPhone and iCloud account of its deceased member.

(What happens to your WhatsApp, Gmail, and photos after you die?)

Digital Legacy: Today, our lives are no longer limited to homes, bank accounts, or property. Our memories, documents, photos, videos, and personal conversations are now preserved in the digital world. This raises a significant question: what happens to a person's online data after their death? Recently, a Gujarat court issued a significant ruling on this issue, sparking a new debate about digital legacy.

How the whole matter started

According to media reports, the matter reached a civil court in Gandhinagar, Gujarat, when a family attempted to access a deceased family member's locked iPhone and iCloud account. The account contained many important family memories, including photos, videos, voice notes, documents, and personal contacts. The family argued that these items held both emotional and practical value.

According to the report, the family first contacted Apple directly . The company responded that account recovery was only possible through its Digital Legacy system and would require an official court order naming a legal representative.

The deceased's wife and daughter then approached the court under the Indian Succession Act 1925. Since the deceased had not left a will, the family sought administrative rights.

The court appointed the daughter as the legal administrator.

After hearing the case, Judge Himanshu Chaudhary appointed the deceased's daughter as the legal administrator of the estate. The court also directed Apple to assist the family in recovering as much data as technically possible. This decision is considered significant because it marks the first time digital data has been recognized as part of a person's legal estate.

The court held that digital data is also an asset.

The most significant aspect of this decision was that the court clearly stated that digital data could also be considered property. The family had argued that the definition of movable property in Indian law is broad enough to include digital assets, even though India currently lacks a separate law governing digital inheritance. The court accepted this argument, stating that the digital data contained in the iCloud account was a valuable digital asset of the deceased and would be considered part of his or her legal inheritance.

In its judgment, the court cited several Indian laws, including the General Clauses Act, the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), and the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, which all have broad definitions of property.

The court also acknowledged that digital assets such as cryptocurrencies and NFTs are currently recognized as virtual digital assets under the Income Tax Act. This suggests that the legal significance of digital assets may increase in the future.

What will happen to privacy after death?

Another major issue raised in this case is privacy. Digital accounts often contain personal conversations, memories, and sensitive information that a person may not want to make public.

However, the court stated that the right to privacy is a personal right that ends with the individual's death. Citing the legal principle of actio personalis moritur cum persona, the court held that legal heirs cannot be prevented from handling digital assets on the basis of privacy.

The law in India is still not completely clear.

India's Digital Personal Data Protection Act 2023 allows individuals to designate someone to handle their data after their death. However, the law is unclear about the process to be followed if a nominee has not been previously designated.