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 (24.08.2017) 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.
Senior lawyer Prashant Bhushan, who was party to the case said: “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,”.
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.
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.
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”.
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