Supreme Court of India

RIGHT TO PRIVACY, A FUNDAMENTAL RIGHT: A CASE STUDY ON JUSTICE K. S. PUTTASWAMY (RETD.) & ANR. V. UNION OF INDIA & ORS., 2017 Fannana Mazumder, Student, LLM, 1st semester, IILM University, Greater Noida (India) Download Manuscript doi.org/10.70183/lijdlr.2025.v03.203 Right to privacy is a complicated concept that has evolved over time and was affected by various factors. It is a multifaceted aspect which differs from person to person that seems to be easy but difficult to define. Right to privacy, in layman’s words, can be defined as the impalpable as well as physical right of any person to live freely from others’ interference or intrusion. The idea of privacy is a vague one having an intricate value. Right to privacy can also be defined as one’s freedom of choice.  The Right to Privacy is a fundamental aspect of human liberty and dignity. In India, right to privacy was recognized as a fundamental right under Article 21 of the Indian Constitution by the Supreme Court in the case of Justice K. S. Puttaswamy (Retd.) & anr. v. Union of India & ors., 2017. This case was a historic judgement that unanimously recognized Right to Privacy as a fundamental right. The historic judgement was delivered by a nine-judge bench of the Supreme Court of India in the year 2017. The case originally arose when Justice K. S. Puttaswamy, a retired judge of the Karnataka High Court via writ petition moved to Supreme Court challenging the constitutionality of the Aadhar Scheme on the grounds that it violated the citizens’ right to privacy. The primary issue in this case was that whether the right to privacy was an intrinsic part of right to life and personal liberty guaranteed under Article 21 of the Indian Constitution and a part of the freedoms guaranteed under Part III of the Constitution.  The Supreme Court of India in its nine-judge bench unanimously delivered judgement, recognized right to privacy as a fundamental right and an intrinsic part of right to life and personal liberty guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution of India. It was also held that right to privacy is also a part of the freedoms guaranteed under Part III of the Constitution. The Court overruled the earlier judgments in the cases of M. P. Sharma v. Satish Chandra, 1954 and Kharak Singh v. State of Uttar Pradesh, 1964, where it was held, that right to privacy was not a fundamental right. This case emphasized that any infringement on the right to privacy must satisfy the conditions of legality, necessity and proportionality. The judgement also emphasized that privacy extends to all spheres of life including individual freedoms, data protection and sexual orientation. This historic judgement laid the groundwork in the case of Navtej Singh Johar v. Union of India, 2018 for decriminalization of homosexuality. This case was a game changer in the context of individual freedom in India marking the beginning of a historic legal battle.