SC privacy verdict blow to 'fascist forces': Congress

NEW DELHI: The Congress on Thursday hailed the Supreme Court verdict declaring privacy a fundamental right as a "landmark judgement" and said it was a blow to "fascist forces" and the "unbridled encroachment and surveillance" by the State in the common man's life.

Congress president Sonia Gandhi said the verdict on Thursday heralded a new era for individual rights and human dignity, while party vice president Rahul Gandhi said it was a rejection of the BJP'S ideology of "suppression through surveillance".

At the party's media briefing here, senior spokesperson P Chidambaram said the judges' unanimous verdict was a setback to the Centre which said in court that there could be no fundamental right to privacy.

Welcoming the judgement, the Congress president said the party and its governments, along with the rest of the Opposition, stood together in court and in Parliament in speaking out for the right and against what she called the "arrogant attempts" of the Centre to curtail it.

"The Supreme Court judgement... heralds a new era for individual rights, personal liberty and human dignity. It strikes a blow on the unbridled encroachment and surveillance by the state and its agencies in the life of the common man," she said in a statement.

Rahul Gandhi said the judgement was a "victory for every Indian".

"Welcome the SC verdict upholding right to privacy as an intrinsic part of individual's liberty, freedom and dignity.

The SC decision marks a major blow to fascist forces," he said on Twitter.

It was a "sound rejection" of the BJP'S ideology of "suppression through surveillance", he said.

Chidambaram believed the verdict would rank "among the most important judgements delivered by the Supreme Court since the advent of the Constitution of India".

"Privacy is at the core of personal liberty. In fact, privacy is an inalienable part of life itself. By virtue of the judgement, Article 21 has acquired new magnificence," he told reporters.

The former finance minister criticised the government's approach in its interpretation of Aadhaar under Article 21 -- on the protection of life and personal liberty -- and alleged its stand was "inconsistent".

He also said Aadhaar was conceived as an "administrative tool" to ensure that the benefits of welfare schemes reached the targeted people and there were no leakages and falsification.

"But Aadhaar can't become a beyond-all, end-all of all administrative issues," he said.

The fault, he added, was not with the concept, but with the BJP government's "use and misuse" of Aadhaar as a tool.

He said the government's approach to Aadhaar was "totally inconsistent" with the previous UPA government's position, which was why challenges had risen.

Chidambaram said privacy was a fundamental right and "the freedom that was won in 1947 has been enriched and enlarged".

He said the Congress took pride in the Supreme Court's judgement that privacy was a fundamental right and not dependent on government benevolence. "Today, we can once again celebrate our freedom. Tomorrow, there will be other challenges, other questions, and other attempts to invade the right to privacy. We shall overcome those challenges too," he said.

Aadhaar, as conceived by UPA, posed no challenge to the right to privacy, he stressed. NEW DELHI: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Thursday blamed the previous UPA government for bringing the biometric ID card programme Aadhaar without a law or safeguards, because of which individual privacy being a fundamental right had to be settled by the Supreme Court.

The Bjp-led NDA government, he said, while framing the law for use of the biometric identifier, ensured all safeguards and that "privacy as a fundamental right is respected".

Welcoming the Supreme Court's ruling that individual privacy is a fundamental right as a "positive development", he said the apex court has accepted the government's "argument that privacy is a fundamental right, but it's not an absolute right".

The ruling "is positive because as the evolution of constitutional law goes on, there is always an effort to strengthen fundamental rights," he said.

Jaitley said the privacy matter went to the Supreme Court "because the (previous) UPA government brought about Aadhaar without a law".

"No safeguards were put by the UPA as to how data would be protected or the data could be used. So people challenged it saying, you are collecting the data and what will you do with it, which are the privacy clauses in it and therefore the challenge was there," he said.

When the Bjp-led government last year brought the Aad- haar law, the finance minister said he was clear that "it is too late for anybody to contend that privacy will not be a fundamental right". And so special provisions with regard to privacy and punishment in case of violations were put in.

Jaitley said he had while replying to the debate on the Aadhaar bill in Parliament on March 16, 2016 stated that the law with all safeguards is being framed "to make sure and ensure that privacy as a fundamental right will be respected".

Elaborating on the restrictions to privacy, Jaitley, an eminent lawyer, said in a room an individual would have absolute right of privacy.

"But if somebody says I will spend large amounts only of cash money and nobody has a right to find this out because I have a right to privacy, that will be subjected to restrictions which will be fair, just and reasonable," he noted.

Stating that restrictions will have to be just, fair and reasonable, he said the Supreme Court has also stated that restrictions can be for national security, crime detection or dissipation of social welfare benefits.

Jaitley said the restrictions would depend on "case to case" but those will have to meet the test of being fair, just and reasonable.

"And, I am sure Aadhaar legislation restrictions are fair, just and reasonable and government is only interested in those fair, just and reasonable restrictions which further the object of dissipation of social welfare benefits so that they are not cornered by undeserving people and only go to deserving. To that extent I think it is a positive development," he added.