Supreme Court declares Right to Privacy to be Fundamental Right

SC declares Right to Privacy as a fundamental right

Question: On August 24th, 2017, Constitution Bench presided by the CJI Justice J.S. Khehar, unanimously declared the right to privacy as the fundamental right. The bench comprises how many judges?
(A) 5
(B) 8
(C) 9
(D) 6
Ans: (c)
Related facts:-

  • On August 24th, 2017, in a landmark verdict, the right to privacy was declared a fundamental right under the Constitution by the Supreme Court.
  • The verdict was delivered by a nine-judge Constitution bench headed by Chief Justice J S Khehar.
  • The nine-judge Bench comprised, besides Chief Justice Khehar, Justices J. Chelameswar, S.A. Bobde, R.K. Agrawal, Rohinton F. Nariman, Abhay Manohar Sapre, D.Y. Chandrachud, Sanjay Kishan Kaul and S Abdul Nazeer.
  • The judgement, which will have a bearing on the lives of all Indians, said that “the right to privacy is protected as an intrinsic part of the right to life and personal liberty under Article 21 and as a part of the freedoms guaranteed by Part III of the Constitution.”
  • The CJI pronounced the summary of concurring verdicts as “the decision in M P Sharma (1950) which holds that the right to privacy is not protected by the Constitution stands over-ruled and “The decision in Kharak Singh (1962) to the extent that it holds that the right to privacy is not protected by the Constitution stands over-ruled”
  • Justices J Chelameswar, S A Bobde, Abhay Manohar Sapre, Rohinton Fali Nariman and Sanjay Kishan Kaul wrote separate, but concurring verdicts running into 547-pages.
  • It is worth mentioning that this decision is linked to petitions challenging the decision of central government making of Aadhaar card mandatory to take advantage of various public welfare programs.
  • Step wise proceeding in the Supreme Court-
  • 7th July 2017 – The Bench of three judges said that the final arrangement will give a big back on the issues raised on the basis and the Chief Justice of India will decide on the need to constitute Constitution Bench.
  • 7th July – The matter was raised before the Chief Justice, the constitution of the five-member constitution bench for hearing.
  • July 18 – A five-judge Constitution bench decided to constitution of a bench of nine judges to decide on the Right of privacy matter and to declare it as fundamental rights under the constitution and to decide about the correctness of the arrangements given in the cases respectively Kharak Singh (1960) and M.P.Sharma (1950).
  • According to the decision taken in both the above cases, the Right to Privacy is not the fundamental right.
  • 19 July – The Supreme Court said that the Right to Privacy cannot be absolute, it can be regulated.
  • 19 July – The Center told the Supreme Court that the Right to Privacy is not the fundamental right.
  • 26 July – Four States Karnataka, West Bengal, Punjab and Puducherry, ruled by non-BJP, reached the court in favor of the Right to Privacy.
  • 26 July – The Center told the court that the Right to Privacy can be a fundamental right, but with some exceptions / conditions.
  • 27 July – The Maharashtra government told the court that the right to privacy is not a ‘only’ thing, it is a broad idea.
  • August 1st – The court said that there should be ‘detailed’ guidelines for safeguarding the personal information of the person on public platform.
  • 2 August – The court said that the principle of safety of privacy in the technology era is a ‘lost battle’, the decision is kept safe.

Reference:
http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/privacy-is-a-fundamental-right-under-article-21-rules-supreme-court/article19551224.ece
http://www.bhasha.ptinews.com/news/1629454_bhasha
http://www.bhasha.ptinews.com/news/1629825_bhasha
http://www.ptinews.com/news/9011335_SC-declares-Right-to-Privacy-as-a-fundamental-right