In a landmark judgement a nine-judge bench of the Supreme Court declared privacy to be a fundamental right on Thursday.
Headed by Chief Justice JS Khehar had reserved its verdict on August 2. According to media reports Thursday’s verdict will have an effect on “whether the government can make Aadhaar mandatory or not”.
Here is what you need to know about Privacy:
What is privacy?
While there is no precise legal definition of ‘privacy’, it can mean a range of things like the right to be left alone, freedom to dissent or protection from state surveillance.
Is it important?
After the government started collecting biometric data of citizens for Aadhaar, eyebrows were raised triggering the large outcry and debate over privacy.
While government says Adhar card is necessary to ‘plug leakages in subsidy schemes and to ensure benefits reach the right people’.
Not satisfied with this argument critics believe Adhar violates privacy. It is vulnerable to data thefts and ‘potentially helps government spy on people.’
Surveillance
Critics warn that Aadhaar grants state, what they call “electronic leash”over citizens and “sweeping power” to govt to access citizens’ data.
Also they say that Aadhaar has immense potential for profiling and surveillance, because using Aadhaar for authentication or for financial transactions leaves behind logs in the databases of Unique Identification Authority of India.
