Indian citizens have a fundamental right to privacy, the Supreme Court ruled on Thursday. A nine-judge Constitution bench of the apex court was unanimous that privacy was part of fundamental rights guaranteed under part three of the Constitution. The nine judges overruled decisions in M P Sharma case and Kharak Singh case which had said right to privacy was not protected by Constitution. "The decisions stand overruled", it said. The bench headed by Chief Justice of India J S Khehar and comprising Justices J Chelameswar, S A Bobde, R K Agrawal, R F Nariman, A M Sapre, D Y Chandrachud, S K Kaul and S Abdul Nazeer had reserved the verdict in the case on August 2 after hearing extensive arguments for six days. The court said "privacy is intrinsic to freedom of life and personal liberty guaranteed under Article 21 of Constitution". The apex court upholding privacy as a fundamental right has significant consequences for the common man as it will empower him/her with a powerful tool to fight unlawful intrusions by the state into their personal lives. But the very fact that the court has traced it to part 3 would mean that the restrictions applicable to other fundamental rights will also apply to privacy. The judgement will also form the basis on which petitions challenging the Aadhaar Act will now proceed. The question whether citizens have a right to privacy had arisen during the hearing on petitions challenging Aadhaar and was referred to the nine-judge bench.
