Is It Legal for Police to Check Your Phone in India?

No, police cannot arbitrarily check your phone without either consent or legal authorisation. The right to privacy, established in the case of Justice K.S. Puttaswamy v. Union of India (2017), is recognised as a fundamental right under Article 21.

To access personal phone data, police require either the owner's voluntary consent or a warrant under Sections 91 or 100 of the CrPC. 

However, if a person is arrested, the phone may be seized, but even then, unlocking it without consent can be challenged as a violation of privacy.