Agencies

NEW DELHI, Aug 24:In a landmark judgement that will impact the lives of 134 crore Indians and may give a massive jolt to government's Aadhaar push, a nine-judge Supreme Court Constitutional bench today said Right to Privacy is a Fundamental right.

Delivering a unanimous verdict, Supreme Court overruled the earlier eight-judge bench judgment in MP Sharma case and six-judge bench judgment in Kharak Singh case -- both of which had ruled that privacy is not a Fundamental Right.

The apex court said Right to Privacy is intrinsic to Right to Life granted under Article 21 of the Constitution.

However, the court has not ruled on the validity of sharing information under Aadhaar today. Now a five-judge bench of the apex court will test the validity of Aadhaar from the aspect of privacy as a Fundamental Right.

Speaking over the judgement, senior lawyer Prashant Bhushan, who was party to the case said: "The judgment read out so far only says that the right to privacy is a fundamental right, protected by Article 21 (of the constitution on the right to life and personal liberty)." "Any law, like the Aadhar Act or any other law, which seeks to restrict the right to privacy will have to be tested on the touchstone of Article 21," he said.

In the wake of data leaks and hacking incidents, Aadhaar critics argue that biometric data linked to the card could be misused by the government agencies.

Petitioners had apprehended that the intimate personal details could land in the hands of undesirable elements. SC today said that Right to Privacy is part of an individual's life and personal liberty. It has now over ruled two earlier seven and eight judges bench rulings that citizens had no such fundamental right to privacy.

Furthermore, the legal validity of Section 377 can come up again before the Apex court following the verdict on Right to Privacy. It can now be argued that punishing consenting adults for indulging in a homosexual relationship can be considered as violating their Right to Privacy.

The contentious issue of privacy had emerged when the apex court was dealing with a batch of petitions challenging the government's move to make biometric  based Aadhaar mandatory for availing the benefits of various social welfare schemes.

The Chief Justice JS Khehar-headed Constitution bench had reserved its verdict on August 2 after hearing marathon arguments for six days over a period of three weeks.

While reserving the verdict on August 2, the bench had voiced concern over the possible misuse of personal information in the public domain and said that protection of the concept of privacy in the all-pervading technological era was a "losing battle".

However, during the arguments, the bench had onJuly 19 observed that the right to privacy cannot be an absolute right and the state may have some power to put reasonable restrictions.

Acknowledging the challenge involved, Justice Chandrachud, on the last day of hearing, tentatively outlined a proposal -- a three-tier, graded fundamental right status to privacy.

 

---

Kenter Joya Riba

(Managing Editor)
      She is a graduate in Science with post graduation in Sociology from University of Pune. She has been in the media industry for nearly a decade. Before turning to print business, she has been associated with radio and television.
Email: kenterjoyaz@easternsentinel.in / editoreasternsentinel@gmail.com
Phone: 0360-2212313

<< Back to News List