Right to Privacy

"Right to privacy is a fundamental right or not?".This question has been raised time and again since our constitution making.Recently issue of ban on pornography,moral policing and Aadhaar  has heated it again. Government(being a party of Aadhaar case) has denied right to privacy as 'fundamental right'.

 

Background:

The collection of biometric data under Aadhaar project and storing it under one centralised database has raised concern for citizens's information security.In lack of legal liability of Aadhaar ,the misuse of data by intelligence agencies,terrorist group(in case of hacking of data) is scaring various corners of people.Along with that persistent effort by govt to use Aadhaar in all schemes(making it mandatory though claiming it voluntary) has generated debate of right to privacy.

Govt.'s argument: 

Govt. took a cold response to right to privacy and argued that right to privacy is neither guaranteed under constitution nor made available to citizens through judicial pronouncements.It formed M P Sharma And Others vs Satish Chandra, District Magistrate Delhi (1954) and Kharak Singh case as their basis of argument.Under these judgements SC ruled that privacy was not a "guaranteed right" under constitution.

Judgements and arguments in favour of 'right to privacy':

 However various judgements after 1970s have debated right to privacy and considered it as a one of the basic human right.

• In Govind vs State of Madhya Pradesh (1975), the Supreme Court ruled that “many of the fundamental rights of citizens can be described as contributing to the right to privacy”.
• Further in Maneka Gandhi vs Union of India (1978),the SC broadened the scope of Article 21 and ruled that "the law and procedure authorising interference with personal liberty and right of privacy must also be right, just, and fair, and not arbitrary, fanciful, or oppressive".
• Moreover in R Rajagopal vs State of Tamil Nadu,SC took liberty and privacy as one of most important right and ruled that right to privacy is 'right to be let alone'.So a citizen has a right to safeguard the privacy of his own, his family, marriage, procreation, motherhood, child-bearing and education among other matters.
• India is signatory to UN Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and privacy has been recognized as fundamental human right under these convention.
• Also liberty is recognized as one of the essential fundamental rights which requires providing opportunities for individual personalty development and by denying right to privacy we would not be able to achieve it.. 

Thin line: 

• Right to privacy is essential human right but it is not an absolute right.This view was also upheld by SC in Govind vs State of Madhya Pradesh (1975) where court ruled that right to privacy right must be subject to restriction on the basis of compelling public interest.
• Further citizen's right to know(through RTI) and other's right to privacy have also acquired confrontation.Therefore raising the question of thin line between both rights. 

Need of hour:

 Right to privacy is an implicit fundamental right which is also recognized by various judgements.Deciding by larger constitution bench will merely establish it as explicitly.Therefore it is needed on the part of government that it also recognize it and take measure(like federalising the database,enacting the right to privacy bill,legalising Aadhaar,instructing the officials to not to misuse it ) and create a fine balance between one's right and public order.

Source:The Hindu,Indian Express