What is the right to privacy and why should it matter to you and me? Currently there is a Nine Judge Bench of the Supreme Court hearing an important, fundamental issue that confronts India today. The law about our right to privacy as it stands is being examined, and the way that it will be interpreted in times to come is being decided as we speak. Some of India’s brightest legal minds are arguing before the Supreme Court in a matter that will have far-reaching consequences.
The validity of the Aadhaar card being made compulsory (mandatory) is being challenged currently. Several petitioners have got together to challenge the Aadhaar scheme, claiming that the way it collects personal information including biometrics is an infringement of the right to privacy.
The petitioners claim that Aadhaar cannot be made mandatory because the government only needs it for distributing services, benefits, subsidies and so on. The Supreme Court has itself stated on more than one occasion, that Aadhaar has to be voluntary and not compulsory and the AG made an undertaking to that effect before the court.
At the root of the matter is the issue of our personal information. Citizens having an Aadhaar card made have to give their biometric and demographic data to the government. This includes fingerprints, iris scan etc. The government says that proper safeguards are in place and misuse is not possible. However, it is argued that the information thus obtained by the government is not adequately safeguarded as things stand. This raises apprehensions of identity theft, mass surveillance by governments and private players, and in extreme cases the misuse of data for ethnic cleansing. Shouldn't people have the right to decide whether or not to divulge such information?
This is where the issue of the right to privacy comes in, whether Aadhaar can be mandatory depends upon our right to privacy. If we do have the right to privacy, Aadhaar cannot be mandatory. This is a larger issue that is now being decided. One view says that right to privacy is not an absolute right and is subject to certain restrictions, another view says that the right to privacy is a part of the fundamental right to liberty of the individual.
Why should the right to privacy matter to you and me? If we don’t break the law, live normal lives and have nothing to hide, this should not matter, right? It isn't that simple. There may be things we don’t want the government to know, though it may be perfectly legal. There may be things that we don’t want made public knowledge for no particular reason; merely because we want to decide what to share, when and how. The right to privacy is about our dignity, self respect and the ability to control our own lives.
The government wants our PAN cards, bank accounts, tax returns and mobile numbers to be linked to Aadhaar. If all this personal information is insecure, the possibility for misuse and coercion is tremendous. Are the benefits of Aadhaar such that they outweigh risk? And we are talking about benefit to the citizen here, not the government.
Remember how upset Sakshi Dhoni was when her husband Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s Aadhaar application was made public? Well we would be too if the authorities did this with us! Only Sakshi Dhoni could tweet to IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad and get a swift response. You and I may be far less lucky…
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