Supreme Court declares Right To Privacy as fundamental right under the Constitution

The Supreme Court on 24 August declared that the 'Right To Privacy' is a fundamental right under the Constitution.

The nine-judge Constitution bench, which was headed by Chief Justice of India JS Khehar, overruled the M.P. Sharma (1962) and Kharak Singh (1954) judgment and held that the Right to Privacy is a fundamental right under Article 21 of the Indian Constitution, in an unanimous decision.
Following this, a five-judge constitutional bench will decide whether the Aadhar violates the Right to Privacy or not.

The Supreme Court, earlier on August 2, had reserved its judgment over the issue of whether right to privacy is fundamental or not.

On July 26, the Centre told the apex court that there is a fundamental right to privacy, which is a 'wholly qualified right' too.

Attorney General, K.K. Venugopal told the apex court that "privacy, as a fundamental right, could have been mentioned in Article 21, but has been omitted. Right to life transcends right to privacy".

In special circumstances, the government can interfere in a matter that comes under a wholly qualified right. An absolute right cannot be reduced or amended.

Earlier on July 20, all the petitioners had completed their argument in the apex court. The petitioners contested that the twelve-digit biometric unique identification card raises privacy threat.

- - With ANI inputs