India’s Supreme Court Rules That Privacy Is A Fundamental Right For Citizens

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 CourtConstitutional bench today
said Right to Privacyis 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.

Read full text of the Judgement
here. 

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 on July 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.

Here is the a brief chronology of Supreme Court hearings in
the right to privacy case:

*July 7: Three-judge bench says issues arising out of Aadhaar
should finally be decided by larger bench and CJI would take a call
on need for setting up a constitution bench.

*July 7: Matter mentioned before CJI who sets up a five- judge
constitution bench to hear the matter.

*July 18: Five-judge constitution bench decides to set up a
nine-judge bench to decide whether the right to privacy can be
declared a fundamental right under the Constitution.

Nine-judge bench (Chief Justice J S Khehar, Justices J
Chelameswar, S A Bobde, R K Agrawal, Rohinton Fali Nariman, Abhay
Manohar Sapre, D Y Chandrachud, Sanjay Kishan Kaul and S Abdul
Nazeer) constituted to hear the privacy matter.

*July 19: SC says right to privacy can’t be absolute, may be
regulated.

*July 19: Centre tells SC that right to privacy is not a
fundamental right.

*July 26: Karnataka, West Bengal, Punjab and Puducherry, the
four non-BJP ruled states move SC in favour of right to
privacy.

*July 26: Centre tells SC that privacy can be fundamental right
with some riders.

*July 27: Maharashtra government tells SC that privacy is not a
“standalone” right, but it is rather a concept.

*August 1: SC says there has to be “overarching” guidelines to
protect an individual’s private information in public domain.

*August 2: SC says protection of the concept of privacy in the
technological era was a “losing battle”, reserves verdict.

*August 24: SC declares right to privacy as fundamental right
under the Constitution.

Culled: economictimes.indiatimes.com

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 CourtConstitutional bench today
said Right to Privacyis 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.

Read full text of the Judgement
here. 

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 on July 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.

Here is the a brief chronology of Supreme Court hearings in
the right to privacy case:

*July 7: Three-judge bench says issues arising out of Aadhaar
should finally be decided by larger bench and CJI would take a call
on need for setting up a constitution bench.

*July 7: Matter mentioned before CJI who sets up a five- judge
constitution bench to hear the matter.

*July 18: Five-judge constitution bench decides to set up a
nine-judge bench to decide whether the right to privacy can be
declared a fundamental right under the Constitution.

Nine-judge bench (Chief Justice J S Khehar, Justices J
Chelameswar, S A Bobde, R K Agrawal, Rohinton Fali Nariman, Abhay
Manohar Sapre, D Y Chandrachud, Sanjay Kishan Kaul and S Abdul
Nazeer) constituted to hear the privacy matter.

*July 19: SC says right to privacy can’t be absolute, may be
regulated.

*July 19: Centre tells SC that right to privacy is not a
fundamental right.

*July 26: Karnataka, West Bengal, Punjab and Puducherry, the
four non-BJP ruled states move SC in favour of right to
privacy.

*July 26: Centre tells SC that privacy can be fundamental right
with some riders.

*July 27: Maharashtra government tells SC that privacy is not a
“standalone” right, but it is rather a concept.

*August 1: SC says there has to be “overarching” guidelines to
protect an individual’s private information in public domain.

*August 2: SC says protection of the concept of privacy in the
technological era was a “losing battle”, reserves verdict.

*August 24: SC declares right to privacy as fundamental right
under the Constitution.

Culled: economictimes.indiatimes.com