Right to Privacy in India

Article 21 of the Constitution of India explains that in India the personal liberty of any person shall not be taken away subject to certain conditions. This fundamental right is now being discussed in the light of recent events where the government has been trying to make Aadhaar mandatory. The legislative provision under Article 21 protects privacy as a fundamental right, and this is also recognized in the Privacy Bill, 2011 which was drafted but is yet to be passed. The right to privacy has been made part of Article 21 through K.S. Puttaswamy’s judgement in which the Indian Supreme Court said that the right to privacy is given under Article 21.

What is Article 21 of the constitution of India?

Article 21 of the Constitution of India means that the citizens of India can enjoy their liberty, however, it is not absolute and certain restrictions can be imposed as per the law. It is a fundamental right given under part III of the Indian Constitution. It is part of one of the basic structures of the Indian constitution. It provides every human being on the soil of this country, the right to life and says that nobody shall be deprived of his life or his liberty. It further says that these rights shall not be taken back or a person shall be deprived of his or her life or associated rights without following procedure established by law. It is one of the basic human rights which has been guaranteed under the constitution; various associated rights of citizens or Human beings have been recognised through this article. Therefore, the impact and scope of this article is very much essential to enjoy human rights as well as the rights of citizens.

What do you mean by privacy?

It is the ability of an individual to seclude themselves, or information about themselves, and thereby reveal themselves selectively. In other words, privacy is the power to choose what you want to share and what you don’t. It can be said that privacy is all about control. When we talk about our right to privacy, we talk about the right to control our personal information and the right to live our lives without interference. The concept of privacy is not specifically recognized under Indian laws but several provisions of law and Article 21 of the constitution recognizes the concept of privacy. Though, article 21 of the Constitution of India states that every person shall have the right to life but the scope of this article has been elaborated by various supreme court judgments. Supreme Court. has expanded the scope of Article 21 to include the right to privacy by giving judgement in the case of K.S. Puttaswamy, before this case right to privacy, was nowhere in legislative provisions.

Justice K.S. Puttaswamy versus Union of India (2017)

There were two cases related to the right to privacy that was going on in the apex court of India One petition was challenging the transfer of data from Whatsapp to Facebook and another petition was filed challenging the validity of AADHAR law. Both these cases were pending before the three judges’ bench and the bench directed it to send a constitutional bench since constitutional matters were involved. A nine judges bench was formed to deal with the issue of whether the right to privacy was a fundamental right or not. So, the nine judges bench was formed to decide on the matter. The government was represented by Attorney General KK Venugopal who was against making the right to privacy a fundamental right. 

What was the judgement of SC in that case?

The apex court of India on 24th August 2017 gave the verdict on the issue of the Right to Privacy. The Supreme Court decided that as per Article 21 of the constitution the right to privacy is a fundamental right and cannot be taken away. Justice Chandrachud asserted that the right to privacy cannot be denied, even if the small population is affected and wrote for the Chief Justice and other judges. Thus, the Supreme Court  through this case provided for the right to privacy as a fundamental right to every citizen of India and it is guaranteed under part III of the constitution under Articles 21 of the constitution.

Conclusion

In India, the right to privacy is a fundamental right granted by the Indian Constitution. This means that individuals have a right to keep their personal information private and protected from unauthorised access. The Privacy bill, 2011 provided for the right to privacy but was not passed by parliament. Article 21 of the constitution states that nobody shall be deprived of his life and Supreme court. has expounded the scope of this by making the right to privacy part of it & said that the right to privacy is protected by Articles 21. Despite this protection, there have been several recent cases in which the Indian government has violated the privacy of its citizens and has not been incorporated under any legislative provision. 

.Students should be aware of these cases and understand how they can protect their privacy rights.