IS PRIVACY OUR FUNDAMENTAL RIGHT – MIND YOUR BUSINESS

It is intrinsic to the right of our life! Yes I’m throwing a light to the most cuddled part that anyone holds on to – “Privacy”. The Supreme Court ruled unanimously that privacy is a fundamental right. Article 21 of the Constitution guarantees that Right to Privacy is an integral part of Right to Life and Personal Liberty.

This vital decision has taken a leap as a throwback to the litigation of Aadhaar and is surely going to be one of the momentous decisions of our times. The SC judgement panel will touch the lives of 134 crore Indians. Not meaning to decide on the fortune of Aadhaar, where privacy of an individual is a part of their fundamental right which cannot be violated. The five-judge bench of SC will check the validity of Aadhaar as a measure of privacy as a part of fundamental right.

The nine-judge bench of apex court overruled the previous judgement on eight-judge bench in MP Sharma case and the Kharak Singh case six judge bench, where both had triggered on privacy not being a fundamental right.
Attorney general K K Venugopal , who has remarked that right to privacy cannot be a fundamental right, welcomed the SC decision.

In 2012, the retired HC judge K S Puttaswamy led the question about the constitutional status of right to privacy encapsulated in a bunch of petition challenging the UPA government’s decision of introducing the biometric data enabled Aadhaar ID for citizens. This included first Chairman of National Commission for Protection of Child Rights and Magsaysay award Shanta Sinha, Researcher Kalyani Sen Menon and others.

‘Privacy’ even though not expressly spelt under the Constitution forms the crux to define a dignified life in a liberal democratic Nation. The key is originated in the requirement of ‘political privacy’ where one has the ability to vote without the commitment of reward or fear of prosecution.

This right stands where people cannot be mandated to disclose for whom they have voted, quotes Section 94 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951. Physical Privacy, Behavioural Privacy and Cognitive Privacy are all included in the existing constitutional provision.

Can you substitute a legal right with a fundamental right?
Legal rights can be conferred with Constitution at will. This declaration certainly doesn’t imply that privacy will become a paramount right which cannot be undone. Under Article 21, Supreme Court triggered on several occasions that privacy is not an absolute right.

Converging privacy with fundamental right will achieve two keys – offering guarantee on constitutional framework into various dimensions of privacy and providing courts with more confidence with a firm comparison between trade off privacy and protection.

If not a fundamental right, what protection could be taken against the future transgression of this privacy right?
Simply relying on political process would solve this issue- or it will be too late.

It is not just about any legislation or privacy implication of Aadhaar Act, but some unseen practices that have come to action. Such speculative searches have now been closed by the passage of Aadhaar Act. In other case if the investigation and surveillance were amended by the law, then one would be likely to believe that the supporters of Aadhaar will join the revolution. So, what we needed was the fundamental right to privacy against which the action would have been test.

This is indeed a proud verdict announced by the court without any doubt in mind that the logical conclusion for the Supreme Court was to hold the right to privacy as the fundamental right. An expansive interpretation of such decision has enlarged the domain of human rights which firmly stands as a reason why Indian Constitution jurisprudence is looked up as very progressive by many countries.

Such a judgement will pave the ways to secured human rights playing greater roles in our day-to-day lives.