Privacy is intrinsic to freedom of life and personal liberty: Supreme Court
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.
Right to privacy, #RightToPrivacy, Privacy is fundamental right, aadhaar and privacy, Supreme Court ruling on right to privacy live updates, SC privacy, SC verdict right to privacy, India news, Indian Express
Advertisement
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.
You’ve Read Your Free Stories For Now
Sign up and keep reading more stories that matter to you.
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.
Ananthakrishnan G. is a Senior Assistant Editor with The Indian Express. He has been in the field for over 23 years, kicking off his journalism career as a freelancer in the late nineties with bylines in The Hindu. A graduate in law, he practised in the District judiciary in Kerala for about two years before switching to journalism. His first permanent assignment was with The Press Trust of India in Delhi where he was assigned to cover the lower courts and various commissions of inquiry.
He reported from the Delhi High Court and the Supreme Court of India during his first stint with The Indian Express in 2005-2006. Currently, in his second stint with The Indian Express, he reports from the Supreme Court and writes on topics related to law and the administration of justice. Legal reporting is his forte though he has extensive experience in political and community reporting too, having spent a decade as Kerala state correspondent, The Times of India and The Telegraph. He is a stickler for facts and has several impactful stories to his credit. ... Read More
