Supreme Court's 9 Judge Bench to decide tomorrow: Whether Privacy is a Fundamental Human Right?

July 18,2017:

CJI Khehar had expounded that, “We have to first determine whether the right to privacy is a fundamental right or not before going into issue on the constitutionality of the Aadhaar scheme”.

Nine-judge Bench of Supreme Court will tomorrow hear the question whether privacy in world’s largest democracy is a fundamental human right and is a part of basic structure of Constitution.

The decision, taken by the Five Judge Constitution Bench led by the Chief Justice of India J.S. Khehar, follows filing of a bunch of petitions contending that Aadhaar scheme, which requires mandatory parting of the biometric details, is a violation of citizens' Right to Privacy.

Petitioners have argued that the Right to Privacy is part of Article 21, the Right to life, and interspersed in the Article 19, though not expressedly said in Constitution.

Two judgments of the Apex Court in M.P. Sharma verdict pronounced by then full quorum of eight judges of Supreme Court shortly after adoption of Constitution in 1950 and Kharak Singh verdict of 1962 by a six-judge Bench had dominated judicial dialogue on the privacy over past decades. Both judgments had concluded that the privacy was not a fundamental or the guaranteed right.

Now, by forming the Bench of nine judges, Supreme Court, under the Chief Justice Khehar, has decided to determine once and for all whether the privacy is non-negotiable.

Formation of nine-judge Bench also seeks to bring a quietus of contradictory judicial pronouncements of the past on this issue.

The other three judges on the Bench were Justices S.A.Bobde, D.Y. Chandrachud and S. Abdul Nazeer.