Data Privacy and Right to Life under Article 21: Post- Justice K.S. Puttaswamy vs Union of India Jurisprudence

Abstract

The “Supreme Court of India” in their judgement in the matter of “Justice K.S. Puttaswamy (Retd.) vs Union of India (2017)”, which acknowledged “privacy as a fundamental right” altogether changed the Indian constitutional jurisprudence and the exact association between the individual and the State in the digital age.

According to the ruling, “Article 21 of the Constitution”, that pledges the right to life and personal right, also embraces the right to privacy. The article further relates to the freedom guaranteed in Article 14 and Article 19. The decision was essentially against the backdrop of increasing concerns related to data collection, surveillance, biometric identification systems, digital governance, and an overall intrusion of technology. Earlier judgments, which rejected the idea of the Constitution protecting one’s privacy, were set aside. It paved the way for a fresh body of jurisprudence on informational privacy, bodily integrity, decisional autonomy, and data protection. This paper studies the enlargement of privacy jurisprudence in India with the focus on the post-Puttaswamy scenario. It outlines the constitutional evolution of Article 21 from its narrow interpretation in AK. Gopalan to a wide understanding in Maneka Gandhi and later cases. The paper examines the various doctrinal contributions of the Puttaswamy judgment which includes recognition of informational privacy, proportionality standards, constitutional morality, etc. The implications of this judgment on subsequent judgments, Aadhaar litigation, data protection law, surveillance and other current digital governance are also explored. An examination of the “Digital Personal Data Protection Act”, 2023, with its fundamental safeguards, constitutes another aspect of the study. Furthermore, it emhasizes the continuing challenges of A.I., facial recognition technologies, algorithmic governance and state surveillance.

The paper argues that constitutional revolution begun by Puttaswamy on the protection of privacy will be effective only if we create proper institutions to implement it followed by proper legislation, vigilant judges and public awareness. As said in the conclusion of the study, the future of privacy jurisprudence in India would involve balancing between these technologies and constitutional guarantees like dignity, liberty, and informational autonomy.