RIGHT TO PRIVACY: A DISPUTED QUESTION OF LAW AND CONSTITUTIONAL PROVISION

Abstract

In July of 2015, the Attorney General, Mukul Rohatgi, arguing before a three-judge bench led by Justice J Chelameswar, called Right to Privacy “a disputed question of law and constitutional provision”, which led to a falling out in the legal fraternity on whether Right to Privacy is in fact a Fundamental Right or not. The Attorney General was countering a contention on the Aadhar card issue that collecting personal data violates Right to Privacy guaranteed by the Constitution of India.  In this paper, I shall be introspecting the same legal question, which in its answer seems very obvious, but its history and experience will state otherwise. This paper commences by interpreting Right to Privacy, from its origin in 1890 by Samuel D. Warren and Louis D. Brandeis to the Constituent Assembly debates on Privacy as right and finally moves on to various Indian judicial pronouncements which have time and again recognized right to privacy as an integral part of right to life. This paper concludes by emphasising the importance of an explicit statue for Right to Privacy, without which it can only remain a de facto right that can be only enforced through interpretation of Constitutional law. This paper sheds a light on various Privacy laws around the world but will reiterate that due to