RIGHT TO PRIVACY IN THE INDIAN CONTEXT

                                   RIGHT TO PRIVACY

The Oxford Dictionary of Law drfines privacy as the "right to be left alone. The right to a private life". From this defination we can understand that ThebRight To Privacy is the right to keep our personal information, private. Personal information can include electronic communication, sexual orientation, professional activities and even feelings or intelect.

Privacy as a concept is not new. Right To Privacy is something that is more modern in nature. The right to privacy can include both physical privacy and privacy related to communications with the advent of newspapers, televisionand thr internet, the concept is now more about informational privacy.

   RIGHT TO PRIVACY IN THE INDIAN CONTEXT

In India, many cases where citizens have raised concerns over privacy have been registered and the Supreme Court of the country has announced judgements objecting to any violation of the citizen's right to privacy. 

Despite the absence of any dedicated article in the Indian Constitution the Supreme Court of India has extended the purview of Article 21 and upheld that the right to privacy is a fundemental right too

       

                RIGHT TO PRIVACY- ARTICLE 21

Article 21 of the Indian Constitution speaks about-

1) Right to Life

2) Right to Personal Liberty

According to this article, every person- citizens and non-citizens have the right to live and the right to have the personal liberty. The state cannot deprive 

any person of these two rights except under procedure as prescribed by Indian Penal Code(IPC).

 SUPREME COURT RULINGS THAT GAVE A NEW MEANING TO ARTICLE 21

Although Article 21 does not speak specifically about the right to privacy, the Supreme Court of India in various instances extended the meaning of Article 21. There are many Supreme Court rulings but two of them are the most important.

a)PREVIOUS SUPREME COURT RULINGS AGAINST THE RIGHT TO PRIVACY

- AK Gopalan V. The State (1950)

In this case, the petitioner argued that the search and seizure operation carried out in his property violated the provision of Right To Prperty as mentioned in article 19(1). However, the court rejected the argument regarding the Right To Privacy, saying that the act of police did not obstruct his right to utilise his property. The court also mentioned the caveat of 'reasonable cause' which gives police the power to search and seize.

b)SUPREME COURT RULINGS THAT UPHELD THE RIGHT TO PRIVACY (Article 21)

- Justice KS Puttaswamy (Retd) Vs Union Of India

During the hearing of a petition that challaged the constitutional validity of the Adhaar based biometric system, the Supreme Court of India unanimously agreed that the right to privacy is a fundemental right enshrined by the Constitution. The court expanded the purview of Article 21 and said that the Right to Life and Liberty as stated in Article 21 also included the Right to Privacy. Since Article 21 falls, which deals with fundemental right after the judgement. Since then the Right To Privacy has been a Fundemental Right in India.

 PERSONAL DATA PROTECTION BILL(2019): PRECURSOR TO RIGHT TO PRIVACY ACT

As we said in the begining, privacy in the modern context is more about the privacy in electronic communications and the ensuing personal data generated through such activities. The personal data protection bill aims to localise the data processing activities of the internet platforms, which is a kin to GDPR law in Europe. The concept of "Data Fiduciary" has emerged from this bill. The data fiduciary is the one who collects the data (like Google). It needs to establish why it is necessary to collect someone's personal data (For Example: Enabling a person to sign up for an online service). The fiduciory needs to maintain transparency and the necessary encryption system to protect personal data. 

Above all the end user has the right to know whatever her data has been processed or not. Some of the law makers have objected to some parts of the bill as well, the natue of which will bw cleared in the coming next years.

                             

IMPLICATIONS OF THE JUDGEMENT

The historic fall-out of the nine-judge Bench, declaring privacy as intrinsic to life and liberty and an inherent right protected by part (iii) of the Constitution is that an ordinary man can now directly approach the Supreme Court and the High Court for violation of his fundemental right under the constitution. 

By making privacy an intrinsic part of life and liberty under Article 21, it is not just a citizen, by anyone whether an Indian National citizen or not can move the constitutional courts of the land under Article 32 and 226, respectively to get justice.

By declaring that privacy is inherent to each and every fundemental freedom in Part (iii) of the Indian Constitution, the Supreme Court has made privacy on essential ingredient of other important fundemental freedoms, including- Right to Equality, Free Speech and Expression, Religion and myrid other important fundemental rights essential for a dignified existance, subject to reasonable restrictions of public health, morality and order.

**Author :- Sejuti Halder, a Student of SK Acharya Institute Of Law