Author: Jyoti Singh, Delhi Institute of Rural Development
To the point
Right to privacy means individuals’ capacity to control the circulation of their personal information and protect themselves from unwanted intrusions. It consist of right to live free and alone from any kind of interference and surveillance in their personal life in this 21st century this becomes very crucial and specially when everything on internet is easily accessible right to privacy was recognized as an implied fundamental right by the supreme court of India in Justice KS Puttaswamy V. Union of India the court ruled out that various fundamental right are not mutually exclusive it was held that if restriction is imposed upon any of the right guaranteed upon under article 19 including all the clauses then it has not only to pass the test of clause 2- 6 rather the law which imposes the restriction also has to pass the test of reasonable fairness just and non- arbitrariness under article 21.
Use of Legal Jargon
There were various legal introductions related to the right to privacy post the Puttaswamy case, namely.
1. Information privacy and data protection- data privacy was one of the most significant expansion and code discovered the necessity of data protection which leads to formation of, digital personal data protection act 2003, justice B.N Sri Krishna committee report 2018, highlighted features of this act was that it consists of concerned based processing, right to correction and ensure the restriction on cross border data transfer.
2. Surveillance and state action-the court post Puttaswamy case made it necessary for state to validate the proportionality test, which means that the means which are adopted must be proportionate to the object and least intrusive method must be used also the law must exist to justify restriction and interest of state must be real and compelling.
3. Reproductive rights and bodily autonomy- court stated that privacy also safeguard the individuals autonomy over the body as In Suchita Srivastava versus Chandigarh administration (2009) reproductive rights were recognised by the court, even X.Vprincipal secretary health and family welfare department 2002 has also extended the right of abortion to unmarried women under the medical termination of pregnancy act 1971 which protects the right of women based on privacy and dignity.
4. Sexual orientation and identity- the right to sexual identity and orientation of a person is a constitutionally protected the right of individual Supreme court through its landmark judgement Navtej Singh Johar vs Union of India 2018 section 377 of Indian penal code was decriminalized by supreme court of India and stated that consensual same sex act between two adult or protected under the article 21 as a right to privacy dignity and equality. In National Legal Services Authority Nalsa versus Union of India, 2014, the Court recognised that gender identity and privacy of transgender individuals are part of the right to privacy.
The proof
In 2012 the petitioner justice KS Puttaswamy retired a former judge of Karnataka High court he file a writ petition challenging the constitutionality of the Aadhar scheme which was involved in collecting the biometric and demographic data of this citizens, but before even answering the Aadhar card legality the supreme court has quotient weather the Indian citizen have fundamental right to privacy under the constitution because earlier Supreme court in kharak Singh versus state of UP 1963 and in MP Sharma versus Satish Chandra 1954 held that privacy was not a fundamental right. To address the dispute, 9 nine-judge constitution bench was formed in 2017 Chief Justice JS Khehar heading the bench.
Petitioner was arguing that right to privacy is the essential part of right under article 14, 19 and 21 of the constitution they focused that the concept of dignity is a major constitutional value and it cannot be fulfilled without privacy they cited that jurisprudence should support the right to privacy in the modern evolving society as the essential part of life. Whereas respondent Union of India had a different view and stated that privacy is a vegetative concept and it is not easy to give it a fundamental status respondent also argue that if privacy will be recognised as a fundamental right it will oblique the wealth fair scheme like Aadhar which involved data collection at a very large scale.
After the continuous argument, the court gave its verdict stating that right to privacy is a fundamental right and should be protected under articles 14, 19 and 21 of the constitution, also overruled the MP Sharma and Kharak Singh judgement declaring them inconsistent with modern society while understanding the new constitutional boundaries.
Abstract
Supreme Court in KS Puttaswamy versus Union of India 2017 has made a remarkable judgement while protecting the right of every citizen of the country. It recognised the right to privacy as an enforceable fundamental right. It stated that it should be protected under articles 14, 19, and 21 of the Indian constitution, while the case was filed in connection with the Aadhar scheme and biometric Data collection. Still, the supreme court has wide jurisdiction and made a judgement that went beyond while protecting other necessary rights of this citizen, which included sexual orientation, data protection, surveillance and state action, reproductive rights, etc.
The Supreme Court also tried to find a perfect balance between the individual’s right to privacy and the state’s legitimate interest while laying the guidelines for information privacy and data security.
Case laws
1. Kharak Singh V. State of UP
It was held that although the constitution does not contain any explicit guarantee of privacy but the right to personal liberty includes a right to dignity it was held and that unauthorised interference with a person’s home and disturbance caused to him is a violation of the right to privacy and the right to live with dignity.
2. MP Sharma V. Satish Chandra (1954)
In this case is was held that it is essential that a person who looks benefit under article 20(3) should have been mark on the court the protection is against a compulsion and there for if compulsion is not caused and the accused voluntarily makes the statement then this is allowed and the protection is only against those statement which can be used as an evidence against the accused bench held that no fundamental right to privacy could be entertain under article 20 (3)
3. National Legal Services Authority (2014)
In this case, the court recognised the third gender and a firm that sexual orientation is the personal choice of an individual, and it falls within the domain of privacy.
4. Navtej Singh Johar case
Supreme court of India in this case has mark the remarkable judgement by De criminalising the section 377 of Indian penal code and allowed that consensual same sex relationship between two adult is completely legal and their own choice and protected the right of individual under article 21 of the Indian constitution and guaranteed it under the domain of right to privacy of sexual orientation of a person.
Conclusion
In a country like India where privacy was myth before, The Supreme court of India gave its fundamental judgement in Puttaswamy case which was filed to question the Aadhar scheme but Supreme court widen the scope of the judgement and protected the right of every individual citizen of the country by making right to privacy as a fundamental right and respected the value of dignity autonomy and liberty this decision acted as the safeguard against the unclarified power of state which protected the individual data personal life thought and bodies from state this judgement not only concern on Aadhar surveillance or internet shutdown but also protected the LGBTQ+ rights and give the reorganization to the consensual same sex adults. But still even after the judgement by supreme court India as a country still need a lot of improvement while fully implementing the data protection law throughout the country we also witness many surveillance program which are operating throughout the country without any sufficient check above that people are not aware about right to privacy as a fundamental right which give up a hand to one who are stealing the data, also as new technology are emerging new kind of threat are also coming to the privacy which is a complex challenge for Indian society specially data mining algorithm decision making and AI poses these kind of complex technology create a challenge while implementing the data protection. Puttaswamy was not just a battle for the Aadhar scheme, but it had a stretched scope of privacy, providing benefits to every individual.
FAQS
What is the legal status of the right to privacy in India?
Yes, the Supreme Court in the Puttaswamy judgement made it clear that the right to privacy is a fundamental right and should be protected under articles 14,19, and 21 of the Indian Constitution.
What impact has the right to privacy had on LGBTQ+ rights?
Supreme court in Naz foundation case decriminalized section 377, which prohibits anal sex and was punishable.
How does the right to privacy affect abortion laws in India?
The Court recognised the right to abortion as autonomy in the reproductive system, and it falls under the realm of the right to privacy.
