Deprecated (16384): The ArrayAccess methods will be removed in 4.0.0.Use getParam(), getData() and getQuery() instead. - /home/brlfuser/public_html/src/Controller/ArtileDetailController.php, line: 150
 You can disable deprecation warnings by setting `Error.errorLevel` to `E_ALL & ~E_USER_DEPRECATED` in your config/app.php. [CORE/src/Core/functions.php, line 311]
Deprecated (16384): The ArrayAccess methods will be removed in 4.0.0.Use getParam(), getData() and getQuery() instead. - /home/brlfuser/public_html/src/Controller/ArtileDetailController.php, line: 151
 You can disable deprecation warnings by setting `Error.errorLevel` to `E_ALL & ~E_USER_DEPRECATED` in your config/app.php. [CORE/src/Core/functions.php, line 311]
Warning (512): Unable to emit headers. Headers sent in file=/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php line=853 [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 48]
Warning (2): Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php:853) [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 148]
Warning (2): Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php:853) [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 181]
LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Right to Privacy: Fundamental rights redefined -Alok Prasanna Kumar

Right to Privacy: Fundamental rights redefined -Alok Prasanna Kumar

Share this article Share this article
published Published on Aug 27, 2017   modified Modified on Aug 27, 2017
-The Indian Express

From seeing them as distinct compartments against which to test laws, to understanding them as a cumulative whole, to now seeing them as boundaries which guarantee the dignity of a free individual in a modern republic, the courts have come a long way.

The right to privacy is not just a common law right, not just a legal right, not just a fundamental right under the Constitution. It is a natural right inherent in every individual. This, in sum, is the law laid down by a nine-judge bench of the Supreme Court of India in K. Puttaswamy v Union of India. This finding of the Supreme Court has not come out of the blue. It is the inevitable conclusion of steady developments in the law in the last three decades where courts across the country, not just the apex court, have said that the right to privacy, to choose, to be free of unwanted intrusion and to determine what happens to their information, is a fundamental right under the Constitution. The judgment has consolidated the development of the law into a grand judgment of six concurring opinions that definitively lays down these principles.

The judgment is also part of the changing view of the Supreme Court on what are fundamental rights. From seeing them as distinct compartments against which to test laws (in A.K. Gopalan v State of Madras in 1950) to understanding them as a cumulative whole (Maneka Gandhi v Union of India) to now seeing them as boundaries which guarantee the dignity of a free individual in a modern republic, the courts have come a long way. Reading the right to privacy into each and every one of the fundamental rights in the Indian Constitution has meant that the scope and depth of these rights have been expanded. They have also taken the opportunity to definitely renounce the disgraceful majority judgment in ADM Jabalpur v S.S. Shukla, delivered at the height of the Emergency, which allowed the government to extinguish such rights at will.

The judgment also puts an end to some pernicious myths about the right to privacy. The six opinions delivered by the judges between them go to great lengths to point out that the right to privacy is not an elitist concern, not just a modern myth, or entirely irrelevant in the internet age. They have rejected any notion that the right to privacy is an impediment to social welfare in any way, and the idea that those who seek socio-economic security do not care about their civil and political rights.

Three elements are considered as the core to the right to privacy: Personal autonomy, the freedom to make choices and the right to determine what happens with information about oneself. The judges use slightly different terms for each but essentially stick to the well-known formulations that have been developed by scholars and courts around the world. These aspects, they find, are also reflected throughout Part III of the Constitution of India, which guarantees fundamental rights.

Please click here to read more.

The Indian Express, 25 August, 2017, http://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/right-to-privacy-fundamental-right-constitution-supreme-court-aadhaar-4812144/


Related Articles

 

Write Comments

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*

Video Archives

Archives

share on Facebook
Twitter
RSS
Feedback
Read Later

Contact Form

Please enter security code
      Close