Ahmedabad: In an important order, a Gandhinagar civil court has allowed a woman access to her late father’s iPhone and iCloud account after recognizing digital data as part of a deceased person’s estate under the Indian Succession Act.The ruling came after the company, Apple, asked the family to obtain a court order authorizing access. The court observed that photographs, videos, documents, and other digital records carry legal and emotional value. It also clarified that the right to privacy does not continue after death.The case relates to Shaishav Shah, who died in April 2025 without leaving behind a will. After his death, his widow and daughter, Sur Shah, sought access to data stored on his locked iPhone and iCloud account. The family approached the company, which informed them that access could only be granted after a competent court authorized them as legal agents of the deceased.Through advocate Jeet Bhatt, the family moved the court seeking a declaration and a letter of administration under the Succession Act. The widow also submitted a no-objection certificate in favour of her daughter accessing the digital data.During the hearing, the petitioners argued that the deceased’s iCloud account contained valuable personal material, including photographs, videos, voice notes, documents and contact lists, carrying emotional, sentimental, and practical significance for the family.The daughter informed the court that Apple had communicated that it can facilitate a password/security reset to permit access to the iCloud data, but it has no technical means to retrieve data stored solely on a physically locked device. The company insisted on a court order authorizing the applicants as the deceased’s representatives.The petitioners completed the formalities of issuing a public advertisement inviting objections. Later, it was argued that the existing Indian legal framework is sufficiently broad to recognise digital data as “property”. The definition of “assets” under Section 2(a) of the Administrators-General Act, 1963, being comprehensive in nature and extending to all movable property of the deceased, is wide enough to include digital data.After the hearing, additional senior civil judge Himanshu Choudhary said, “This court is persuaded that the digital data stored in the Apple iCloud account of the deceased constitutes a valuable digital asset forming part of the estate of the deceased, capable of administration under the Act..”The existing Indian legal framework, including the broad and inclusive definitions of ‘movable property’ under the General Clauses Act, 1897 and the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, the definition of ‘property’ under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002, and the recognition of Virtual Digital Assets under the Income Tax Act, 1961, is sufficiently expansive to accommodate digital data within the conceptual scope of property.“On the issue of the right to privacy of the deceased, the court said that “the right to privacy, being an inherently personal right, does not survive the death of the individual, as clarified by the Supreme Court”.
