Saturday 27th Jul, 2024
The nine-judge Constitution bench of SC had reserved the verdict on August 2 on whether right to privacy is a fundamental right.
New Delhi: The Supreme Court is may pronounce on Thursday whether right to privacy is a fundamental right.
The verdict would have a bearing on the challenge to the validity of the Aadhaar scheme on the grounds of its being violative of the right to privacy.
It is also likely to have a bearing on the challenge to WhatsApp’s new privacy policy.
Following is the chronology of events:
– The top court is hearing a challenge to the Delhi High Court’s September 23, 2016 order by which it allowed WhatsApp to roll out its new privacy policy.
– However, the court stopped it from sharing the data of its users collected up to September 25, 2016, with Facebook or any other related company.
– The nine-judge Constitution bench had reserved the verdict on August 2 after hearing the matter for two weeks.
– Hearing had commenced on July 19 and concluded on August 2.
– The entire issue was rooted in a reference by a three-judge bench that was hearing a challenge to the constitutional validity of the Aadhaar Scheme on the grounds of its being violative of the fundamental right to privacy.
– The petitioners included former Karnataka High Court Judge KS Puttaswamy, first Chairperson of National Commission for Protection of Child Rights and Magsaysay awardee Shanta Sinha, feminist researcher Kalyani Sen Menon and others.
– The Centre contested their position citing two judgments of 1954 (by eight judges) and 1962 (by six judges) which had held that the right to privacy was not a fundamental right.
– The Centre had contended that though after the mid-seventies several judgments by the benches of strength of two or three judges had held that right to privacy was fundamental but it was the judgment of 1954 and 1962 by the larger benches that holds the ground.