We welcome the judgment of the Supreme Court affirming the Right to Privacy as a fundamental right. This is a historic day.
This judgment comes to us after a reference in the Aadhaar cases starting in in 2012 where the Union Government in August 2015 argued that the fundamental right to privacy does not exist under the Constitution. Since then the government and UIDAI, the agency managing the Aadhaar database, have consistently argued in Court that Indians have no fundamental privacy and that privacy is a concern only of the elite. These pernicious arguments have finally been laid to rest.
Tomorrow the Supreme Court of India will decide whether or not Indian citizens have a fundamental right to privacy. This historic decision will have far reaching consequences. A bench of nine judges including the Chief Justice of India, Justice Khehar, Justices Jasti Chelameswar, SA Bobde, RK Agarwal, Rohinton Nariman, AM Sapre, DY Chandrachud, SK Kaul and S Abdul Nazeer have heard the case.
The 9-Judge Constitution Bench concluded hearings to settle the question of whether there exists a fundamental right to privacy in India. The bench has reserved its judgment over whether privacy is a fundamental right in India.
The government’s counsels insisted that the Supreme Court should not recognise privacy as a fundamental right. They once again repeated arguments that privacy is an elite concept, that privacy interests are being only canvassed by a minority of wealthy citizens, and further, that only wrong-doers were asking for privacy.
The 9-Judge Constitution Bench continued hearing the arguments of the Government of India to settle the question of whether there exists a fundamental right to privacy in India. In August 2015, the Government of India denied that a fundamental right to privacy exists in India in the ongoing Aadhaar case. After the 9-judge bench finishes hearings on the limited question of whether Indians have a fundamental right to privacy, a 5-judge bench is then expected to rule on whether the Aadhaar scheme violates such a fundamental right and will thereby decide the fate of the Aadhaar project.
The 9-Judge Constitution Bench continued hearing the arguments of the Government of India to settle the question of whether there exists a fundamental right to privacy in India. In August 2015, the Government of India denied that a fundamental right to privacy exists in India in the ongoing Aadhaar case. After the 9-judge bench finishes hearings on the limited question of whether Indians have a fundamental right to privacy, a 5-judge bench is then expected to rule on whether the Aadhaar scheme violates such a fundamental right and will thereby decide the fate of the Aadhaar project.
The 9-Judge constitutional bench resumed hearings to settle the question on whether there exists a fundamental right to privacy in India. This bench in the words of Justice Nariman “..will decide the issue once and for all for conceptual clarity for the nation.” In an important development, several states decided to join the issue on the side of the petitioners and argued that there does exist a fundamental right to privacy in India.
The bench of nine SC judges continued hearing arguments for a second day, to settle the question of whether Indian citizens have a fundamental right to privacy, in the ongoing Aadhaar case. Several petitioners had questioned whether the government can mandatorily link the 12-digit, biometrics linked UID number to government services, and make it compulsory to enroll in the biometrics database.
Today, a five-judge bench of the Supreme Court presided over by Chief Justice of India J.S. Khehar heard a bunch of petitions today challenging Aadhaar, a biometrics-linked residents ID, on different grounds, including those related to right to privacy.
They decided to constitute a nine-judge bench to decide on the issue of whether we enjoy a right to privacy as a fundamental right under the Constitution of India.
