The Right to Privacy as a Fundamental Right under Article 21: Constitutional Foundations, Doctrinal Evolution, and Contemporary Challenges
The Right to Privacy as a
Fundamental Right under Article 21: Constitutional Foundations, Doctrinal
Evolution, and Contemporary Challenges
ABSTRACT
Privacy
as a Fundamental Right under Article 21 of the Constitution of India has
brought about a change in the Indian constitutional jurisprudence. Though
privacy was not provided under the Constitution, the Court held privacy to be a
part of life, liberty, dignity and autonomy. The decision in the matter of
Justice K.S. Puttaswamy (Retd.) v Union of India, rendered by a nine-judge
bench of the Supreme Court, has settled the doctrine of privacy for all times
to come and introduced the principle of proportionality to be applied while
examining the actions of the State which offend privacy. This Article tries to
record the developments of the privacy jurisprudence in India and the factors
which have led to the recognition of privacy as a right. It seeks to examine
the importance of the right to privacy in the age of digital governance and its
future. It submits that privacy as a right under Article 21 is not merely a
restrictive principle on the actions of the State, but a structural principle
of the Constitution that ensures that the Indian citizens remain democratic in
an age of surveillance capitalism and algorithmic governance.
Keywords:
Article 21; Privacy; Proportionality; Dignity; Informational
Self-Determination; Constitutional Morality
