Sir — This refers to the editorial, “Yes to data privacy” (August 25). The Supreme Court judgment, declaring privacy as a fundamental right gives Indian citizens space and relief. Overturning the two previous judgments on the issue, the apex court has provided the citizen protection against surveillance by the state.
It has put limits on the might of an ever-expansionist and overbearing state. The verdict obviously seems a rebuff to the Modi Government, which had contended before the court that the right to privacy could not be extended to ‘every aspect’ of privacy. Attorney General KK Venugopal had argued that privacy at best is a “sub-species of liberty and every aspect could not qualify as being fundamental in nature”.
The issue of privacy violation rose over the state diktat to provide personal information for Aadhaar and the poor repository of the data taken. Started as a well-meaning digital initiative to make welfare and subsidy payments transparent, Aadhaar has been made mandatory for a host of other activities, including financial transactions, bank and mobile accounts, and filing of tax returns. The pervasive fear is that the Modi regime may misuse personal information to target opponents, or deny benefits to ‘undesirables’, apart from the under-played threat of pilferage of data.