Right to privacy is a fundamental right, the Supreme Court ruled on 24 August.
The verdict was delivered by a nine-judge bench, headed by Chief Justice JS Khehar and comprising Justices J Chelameswar, SA Bobde, RK Agrawal, RF Nariman, AM Sapre, DY Chandrachud, SK Kaul, and S Abdul Nazeer.
The bench had on 2 August reserved its verdict after hearing marathon arguments for six days over a period of three weeks, during which submissions were advanced in favour and against the inclusion of the right to privacy as a fundamental right.
'Opposed Privacy As Fundamental Right': Mukul Rohatgi Contradicts Centre
Former Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi told NDTV that he had argued before the top court against treating privacy as a fundamental right. Rohatgi, who had represented the government in the top court till June this year, said the government had argued before the top court that privacy "is not a fundamental right but a regular common law right"
SC Judgement in Consonance With Govt Vision: Amit Shah
BJP president Amit Shah welcomed the Supreme Court verdict declaring Right to Privacy a fundamental right by saying that it strengthened the personal liberty of citizens.
Our Government is committed to ensuring equitable social delivery, particularly to the poor in consonance to today’s judgement by Hon’ble Supreme Court.Amit Shah
He also took a dig at the Congress party by saying,
While today’s judgement is an important one, which also is in accordance with the Government’s vision and actions, some mischievous propaganda needs to be busted. Those waxing eloquent today on privacy architecture are the ones who have ensured India does not have a robust privacy law for decades. Those commenting on Aadhaar are the same people who did not provide it a legal backing for years!
SC Verdict Enhances Citizen's Rights: Soli Sorabjee
Former Attorney General Soli Sorabjee welcomed the apex court verdict on the Right to Privacy and said that the verdict “enhances citizens’ rights.”
Any decision that enhances the citizen’s rights should be welcome. The Supreme Court did not hesitate to overrule its previous judgments that seemed to suggest that privacy was not a fundamental right.Soli Sorabjee
“If cases are made for them to reconsider previous judgement, which they have done in this case, which is commendable feature,” said Sorabjee.