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Evolution of Right to Privacy In India

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Right to privacy is a facet of right to life and personal liberty enshrined under article 21 of the Indian
constitution and right to privacy has been recognized as fundamental right in the recent judicial
pronouncement in Justice K.S Putthaswamy v. Union of India. The main purpose behind touching
upon various areas of privacy, is providing an unambiguous and unequivocal idea about the said
right and we all have a rudimentary idea that right to privacy can be considered as an umbrella
under numerous areas related with different field are covered. Therefore it is essential to explicate
all such concept for providing better understanding to the reader. Introduction
"Man's house is his castle", the mentioned saying implies about inherited "Right to privacy" in
human being. Every human being has certain confidential and surreptitious part of their life, which
can't be divulged at public domain. This right to privacy has gained momentum throughout the
world and it has been recognized as a fundamental right to privacy. The deliberation on right to
privacy commenced after the "Warren and Brandies" debate on right to privacy and this debate will
be further elucidated in the research paper. Countries such as USA, UK, India, and international
organizations such as UDHR, ICCPR, ECHR, have given valid recognition to right to privacy.

The constitution of India has not guaranteed the right to privacy as an explicit fundamental right to
the citizens but nevertheless, the Supreme Court has construed the right to privacy as a part of life
and personal liberty under article 21 of the Indian constitution and this right to privacy conundrum
has been unraveled by the Indian judiciary in the recent judicial pronouncement in the case ofJustice
K.S Putthaswamy v. Union of Indiawherein right to privacy has been recognized as fundamental
right.[2]Article 21 of the Indian constitution deals with right to life and personal liberty and justice
Khanna has stated that human existence is not mere animal existence, every person deserves to live
a dignified life and term privacy is the utmost significant factor regarding enjoyment of life.

Right to privacy has travelled a prolonged journey in order to attain the status of fundamental right
in Indian constitution. There are abundance of cases dealing with acceptance and denial of this right
henceforth all the aforesaid points will be elaborated further in order to have a categorical
understanding about the evolution of "right to privacy" within Indian domain and the contribution of
USA privacy laws since Indian judiciary heavily relied upon the American laws for providing
unequivocal adjudication of privacy matters.

"Right to be forgotten" is another area that falls under the ambit of right to privacy. The
development in the technology is the reason behind initiation of such right in Indian constitution and
we all know that internet is accessible by everyone and certain sensitive and vulnerable information
might be jeopardizing in nature, therefore it is necessary to protect such right.
Indian Aspect of Right To Privacy

Fundamental rights are basic rights inherent in human being and such rights should be entrusted to
every citizen of the country along with proper remedial mechanisms. "Right to privacy" has travelled
a prolonged journey for the obtainment of status of fundamental right under Indian constitution and
how this privacy right attained the status of fundamental right then elucidation of certain prominent
case laws is mandatory for substantiating the discussion and for providing a clear and unambiguous
idea about right to privacy.

Right to privacy was derived from "protection of life and personal liberty" enshrined under article 21
of the Indian constitution and the discussion on case laws is essential for better understanding of
this utmost significant right in the present scenario. In the case Kharak Singh v. State of Uttar
Pradesh[12],where the appellant was being harassed by police under regulation 236(b) of the UP
regulation, which permits for domiciliary, visits at night. The supreme court held that the regulation
236 is unconstitutional and violative of article 21. The court concluded by saying that article 21 of
the constitution to include "right to privacy" as a part of right to "protection of life and personal
liberty". Justice Subba Rao equated personal liberty with privacy and he observed that concept of
liberty in article 21 was comprehensive enough to include privacy and that a person's house, where
he lives with his family is his castle and that nothing is more deleterious to a man's physical
happiness and health than a calculated interference with his right to privacy.

In People's Union for Civil Liberties v. Union of India[17],The court held that telephone tapping by
the government under telegraph act amounts to violation of article 21 and once the mentioned facts
in a given case attracts the facet of privacy, article 21 can be invoked since privacy is a part of right to
life and personal liberty and this right can be deprived of only by the procedure established by law.

Right to privacy is not mentioned in the Indian constitution but the roots of the privacy can be traced
under article 21 and telephonic conversation is a part of confidential information and tapping such
private communications is a contravention of right to privacy and this right can be taken away only
by the procedure established by law.[18]

Right to privacy is a broader concept and it consists of several dimensions of right to life and
personal liberties, yet another dimension was added in right to privacy in the case of Mr. X v.
Hospital Z [19],where the appellant's blood was to transfused to another but he was tested HIV(+) at
the respondent's hospital and on the account of such information, appellant's marriage was called
off and moreover he was severally castigated in the society. The appellant approached the Supreme
Court and contended that the principle of "duty of care" includes the duty to maintain the
confidential information between the patient and the doctor and such duty of care had correlative
right vested in the patient and whatsoever confidential information comes to the knowledge of the
doctor, will not be divulged at public domain. The appellant added his contention by saying that
respondent has violated the duty of care as well as right to privacy of the appellant, hence liable to
pay damages.

The supreme court rejected the contention of appellant and held that right of privacy may arise out
of a particular specific relationship, which may be matrimonial, commercial and political as well.
Doctor-patient relationship, though basically commercial yet a matter of confidence and therefore
doctors are orally and ethically responsible to maintain the confidentiality of such existing
relationship. In such situation, revelation of confidential information will result in invasion in privacy
right which may sometimes clash with another person's right to be informed. This right however is
not absolute and may be lawfully restricted for the prevention of crime, disorder, health, morals and
rights of others.[20]

The utmost important observation which was observed in the aforesaid case, wherein the court held
pronounced that where there is a clash between 2 fundamental rights, as in this case, right to
privacy of an appellant and right to lead a healthy life of another party which is also a fundamental
right. In such situation right which is of public interest and morality will alone be enforced.[21].

Right to privacy took completely different turn during "Aadhaar case" and the question was raised
about fundamental status of right to privacy in Indian constitution. In this case , a scheme
propounded by the government of India popularly known as "Aadhaar Card Scheme" and under this
scheme government was accumulating the personal information related with biometric and
demographic data and such confidential information was about to be used for various beneficial
purposes provided by the government.

This scheme was challenged through bunch of petitions and it was contended that collection of
private information of individuals, is a violation of right to privacy since government had all personal
information of every citizen of this country and there was a suspicion about misuse of such covert
information by the government. This case attained immense attention because of raising the
significant question about the fundamental status of right to privacy.

The nine-judge bench of the Supreme Court has unanimously delivered its judgment in Justice K.S.
Puttaswamy (Retd.) v. Union of India holding that privacy is a constitutionally protected right which
not only emerges from the guarantee of life and personal liberty in Article 21 of the constitution, but
also arises in varying contexts from the other facets of freedom and dignity recognized and
guaranteed by the fundamental rights contained in Part III of the Indian constitution.[26]

Judgment can be concluded by mentioning that "Privacy includes at its core the preservation of
personal intimacies, the sanctity of family life, marriage, procreation, the home and sexual
orientation.Privacy also connotes a right to be left alone. Privacy safeguards individual autonomy
and recognizes the ability of the individual to control vital aspects of his or her life. Personal choices
governing a way of life are intrinsic to privacy. Privacy protects heterogeneity and recognizes the
plurality and diversity of our culture. While the legitimate expectation of privacy may vary from the
intimate zone to the private zone and from the private to the public arenas, it is important to
underscore that privacy is not lost or surrendered merely because the individual is in a public place.
Privacy attaches to the person since it is an essential facet of the dignity of the human being."[27]