The apex court is to deliver the much-awaited judgement whether right to privacy of citizens is a fundamental right under the Constitution.
A bunch of petition was filed against Government’s Unique Identification scheme of Aadhaar, issued to all the citizens of India. This 12-digit number was questioned as it collects all the personal details like demographic and biometric details of the people in order to enrol them in the scheme. Hence, the petitions were filed claiming that it is a breach of privacy, informational self-determination and bodily integrity.
The petitioners also argued that Aadhaar enrolment is the means to a “Totalitarian State” and an open invitation for personal data leakage. To which the Government says that if people can share their personal information with the service providers and private players like Apple, why not with the Government? It also says informational privacy does not exist before compelling State interests and is not an absolute right.
Also it claims that, collection of personal data of the citizens come under that Aadhaar act of 2016 which is the benefits to the poor by providing direct access to public benefits, subsidies, education, food, health and shelter, among other basic rights.
A five – judge constitutional bench, which pondered over the Aadhaar related issues, referred the question of right to privacy to a nine–judge constitutional bench of Supreme Court led by Chief Justice of India J.S Khehar.
CJI Justice J.S Khehar is retiring on Saturday and wants to finish off the cases he is heading some of famous one’s being the “Triple Talaq” case, which the supreme court has pronounced to be Unconstitutional yesterday in a historical verdict.
Tomorrow is the final day of the hearing and it would be interesting to see the Judgement Pronounced by the 9 Judge Bench of Supreme Court and the effect it will have on the World’s largest Biometric Identification Program.
To know what has happened in the case, what various parties of the case has said, Please see https://rupeenomics.com/aadhaar-privacy-issue-aug-2-hearing-highlights/
Follow us to know the final verdict on Right to Privacy under Section 21 (Right to Life and Liberty).