Today marks the fifth year anniversary of a momentous day in constitutional history, especially significant for the history of digital rights and freedom in India. On August 24, 2017, a landmark judgement by a nine judge bench of the Supreme Court in the Justice K.S. Puttaswamy. (Retd.) v. Union of India recognised the right to privacy as a fundamental right under the Constitution of India. The declaration of privacy as a right and an integral part of the right to life and liberty was a watershed moment in the constitutional history of data protection. The historic judgement also has far reaching consequences for key areas such as mass and targetted surveillance, right to freely express one’s sexual preference, etc. The fundamental right to privacy was further cemented as the Supreme Court acknowledged its application across the golden triangle of the Indian Constitution, i.e., fundamental rights pertaining to equality and dignity (Article 14), speech and expression (Article 19), and, life and liberty (Article 21).
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://internetfreedom.in/5-years-to-the-landmark-privacy-judgement/