Right to Privacy in India

INTRODUCTION

Privacy is a word that has lots of meanings hidden in it. Privacy is something that is a need for each and every human on this planet. It can be defined as a fundamental right that a human possesses in their lifetime. Privacy can be of several types, whether it is about a person’s self-respect or physical safety.

It can also be defined with an example of a person’s essential items, which need to be protected at any cost, and the protection can only be provided with the help of ‘privacy’. The consequences of privacy can give a better life to the person in order to give the best future.

Privacy and the right to privacy are quite similar but also different at the same time. Privacy is something that is an essential part of a person’s integrity but also in a legal manner. The right to privacy can be defined as the obligation or the right imposed on every individual to maintain their privacy, i.e., to maintain the individual’s physicality, secrets, thoughts, documents, arguments, etc.

Everyone has the right to be aside, i.e., alone, which is totally dependent on the individual. If the individual wants some privacy, he has been given the right to privacy in which he can be alone and free to do anything legally under the eyes of the law.

RIGHT TO PRIVACY IN INDIA

In the Indian Constitution, Article 21 talks about the right to life and personal liberty.

There are many scenarios where the citizens of India have complained about the violation of rights in terms of privacy. It is, therefore, mandatory to sustain the right to privacy of an individual. Article 21 has so much impact on the Indian Constitution that the right to life and personal liberty under Art. 21 cannot be suspended whenever a National Emergency is imposed.

Article 21 specifically does not talk about the Right to privacy, but due to various judgments in different cases imposed by the citizens of India, the meaning under Article 21 was extended by the Hon’ble Supreme Court. There were many individuals whose right to privacy was violated, and due to this, many of them filed a case in the Hon’ble Supreme Court to seek justice. It was the responsibility of the Hon’ble Supreme Court to give fair and accurate judgments on account of the individual’s concerns.

Therefore, a famous case that led to a broader meaning of the right to privacy was “Kharak Singh vs The State of UP”.

In this case, Kharak Singh was declared accused on account of robbery as well as being a part of the robbery gang along with armed equipment. Kharak Singh was held captive in the year 1941. However, there was no sufficient evidence of his crime, and he was released from imprisonment. Here, the Uttar Pradesh Police Regulations took out a ‘history sheet’ for keeping an eye on the accused.

Regarding these ‘history sheets’, the police of Uttar Pradesh used to go to Kharak Singh’s house daily but at odd hours. They used to visit Kharak Singh’s house at midnight at 2 or 3 a.m., which would interrupt him during his sleeping hours. Due to these difficulties, Kharak Singh filed a case in which he said that his right to privacy was violated, i.e. his right to life with dignity under Article 21 was violated. He demanded certain measures to relieve him from the interruptions he was facing due to the Uttar Pradesh police.

Judgment

The judgment of this case relates to the relevant provisions and considers the Uttar Pradesh Police Regulations incorrect regarding the law.

A six-judge bench of the Hon’ble Supreme Court gave voluntary opinions regarding this case. The judges said the secret picketing of the house, domiciliary visits, and keeping history sheets for the petitioner violated his right to privacy.

Justice Subba Rao concluded that violating the right to privacy of a person may make the person introverted as he/she would not be able to share their thoughts or feelings with anyone because they would be scared in case their privacy gets judged or contradicted.

The secret picketing of the house, domiciliary visits, and keeping history sheets for the petitioner also violated the right to freedom of expression under Art. 19(1)(a) of the Indian Constitution. Therefore, Justice Subba Rao said that the Uttar Pradesh Police Regulations were unfair and could not be practiced further, which violates the fundamental rights of the petitioner.

CONCLUSION

The right to privacy in India belongs to each and every individual within the country. In the case of Kharak Singh vs The State of UP, the right to privacy was given a broader meaning under Article 21. Along with that, there were several other judgments from different cases for enlightening and giving a brighter aspect to the right to privacy. Some of the cases which led to the judgment that the right to privacy should be included in Article 21 as a fundamental right were; “M.P. Sharma vs Satish Chandra(1954), K.S. Puttaswamy vs Union of India, R. Rajagopal vs State of Tamil Nadu”.

Privacy, along with the right to privacy, came into light after the invention of telecommunication and electronics all over the country. There are many social media platforms and networking sites which are used by most people all over the world. The concern over here is that many people give some of their important information to those sites for the purpose of gaining its facilities or for using those facilities for official purposes. However, the risk of using social media platforms nowadays has become a very specific issue. This is because the information of the social media platform users may get exposed to the outer world directly or indirectly, and it may create an embarrassing situation for the person using those platforms. It is therefore said that privacy on social media platforms and networking sites is a must and cannot be ignored at any cost.

According to Art. 21 of the Constitution of India, the proper meaning of the right to privacy is not defined, and India does not have laws for privacy. As a fundamental right under Article 21, the right to privacy is safe and secure and cannot be breached by others.

The citizens of India who filed cases for their privacy rights should be appreciated because due to them, the matter of the right to privacy came under the supervision of the Hon’ble Supreme Court, and with the fair and accurate decisions given by the Hon’ble Supreme Court, it became a fundamental right under Article 21 of the Indian Constitution. The efforts and brilliant work of the Hon’ble Supreme Court not only gave the citizens their privacy rights but also opened windows for those individuals who are scared or are introverts regarding their physicality, secrets, thoughts, documents, arguments, social media platforms, etc.

SREEJA SRIVASTAVA

BBA LLB (H)

AU Patna