The Right to Privacy Regime in India: A Controlled and Authoritative Approach

Abstract

Unlike in some other countries, the right to privacy is not considered a fundamental right in India. The constitution of India does not recognize it in any form—not even home privacy which is recognized as the right to be secure against unreasonable search and seizure. In case [2011]8SCR725, the Supreme Court of India first recognized the “right to privacy as an integral part of right to life”. Since then, India has made four attempts to secure a right to privacy through legislation. Recently the revised Personal Data Protection Bill (2019) was introduced and is still under review. This article explores the perspective of India on the right to privacy from a historical and contemporary perspective, in two aspects: judicial and governmental. In doing so, more than 39 judicial judgments on the right to privacy and four major draft enactments are analyzed. The study affirms that Indian legislatures hold a political, controlled and authoritarian approach towards the right to privacy resulting in a conflict of interest with the people. Keywords: Right to privacy, Home privacy, E-privacy, Information privacy, Communication privacy, Protected zones, India.