Justice K.S. Puttaswamy vs. Union of India (2017) 10 SCC 1
- This case presents challenges for constitutional interpretation. If privacy is to be construed as a protected constitutional value, it would redefine in significant ways our concepts of liberty and the entitlements that flow out of its protection.
- The Puttaswamy judgement of 2017 reaffirmed the ‘Right to Privacy’ as a fundamental right in Indian Jurisprudence. Since then, it has been used as an important precedent in many cases, to emphasize upon the right to privacy as a fundamental right and to clarify the scope of the same.
- The Supreme Court upheld the validity of the Aadhar Scheme on the ground that it did not violate the right to privacy of the citizens as minimal biometric data was collected in the enrolment process and the authentication process is not exposed to the internet.
Proportionality Test under Puttaswamy (2017) judgment
It held that privacy is a natural right that inheres in all-natural persons, and that the right may be restricted only by state action that passes each of the three tests:
- First, such state action must have a legislative mandate; Second,
- it must be pursuing a legitimate state purpose; and
- Third, it must be proportionate i.e., such state action — both in its nature and extent, must be necessary in a democratic society and the action ought to be the least intrusive of the available alternatives to accomplish the ends
