By overruling its own cases delivered in 1954 and 1961 on the right to privacy, the nine-judge Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court has steered the course of jurisprudence in such a way that it is in tandem with the evolving values of a progressive society (“Right to privacy is ‘intrinsic to life and liberty,’ rules SC”, August 24). The court is aware that its verdict will have a bearing on other issues such as the criminalisation of homosexuality and the abortion rights of women. It will have to brace itself to tackle a flurry of petitions challenging various laws that allegedly violate the right to privacy.
The government has not crowned itself with glory by blowing hot and cold on the privacy issue, arguing once that there is no fundamental right to privacy and now saying that privacy is a right subject to reasonable restrictions. It has its task cut out to formulate a credible and robust data protection law so that the Aadhaar scheme passes muster with the court as privacy-compliant.
V.N. Mukundarajan,
Thiruvananthapuram
It is premature to understand the impact of this judgment on Aadhaar; that’s for a separate day. The linking of Aadhaar to PAN, mobile numbers and so on will raise the amount of direct and indirect tax collections as it will provide the government with an effective tool to manage fraudulent practices. Even after the government’s aggressive push to ensure transparency, there are still many who oppose Aadhaar. Only time will tell if the Supreme Court will back these people or not.
Jai Prakash Gupta,
Ambala
We rejoice that the right to privacy has been unambiguously and emphatically declared a fundamental right. It easily ranks as one of the most significant rulings of the country’s top court since January 26, 1950. Thanks to the verdict, the right to privacy is now inalienable, paramount, and inviolable. It lends a new dimension to the notion of personal liberty and marks the beginning of a new era for individual freedom. It recognises privacy as something at the core of human dignity. It helps us shed the fear of our private lives being intruded upon.
The right to privacy may appear to be “amorphous”, but it inheres in almost all the rights and freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution. “The right to be left alone’’ or “the right to choose solitude if I want solitude or the freedom to socially cohabit, that is, if I want it”, to borrow from Justice D.Y. Chandrachud, is now made sacrosanct. Most importantly, it redefines the relationship between the state and the citizens and keeps others out of one’s kitchen and bedroom, thus pre-empting the emergence of a totalitarian state. Surveillance and invasion of privacy will be the last to have constitutional or legal sanction.
The ruling does not come in the way of delivery of benefits to the impoverished through welfare schemes. It does not dispense with the Aadhaar scheme and PDS, but requires the government to put in place a robust data protection mechanism in order to prevent the misuse of biometrics and personal details collected from the common people.
G. David Milton,
Maruthancode, Tamil Nadu
