Important Judgment of the Supreme Court of India

I n this column, a brief report on an important judgment of the Supreme Court will be given, which has a bearing on human rights.,


Judgment on right to privacy
On the 24th August, 2017, in a landmark judgment concerning human rights, a nine-judge bench of the Supreme Court of India, led by the Chief Justice, Mr. Justice J.S. Khehar unanimously held privacy to be a fundamental right by declaring that "The right to privacy is protected as an intrinsic part of the right to life and personal liberty under Article 21 and as a part of the freedoms guaranteed by Part III of the Constitution." The judgment was delivered in a writ petition (Civil) No. 494 of 2012. Petitioners were Justice K.S. Puttaswamy (Retd.) and Another and the respondents were Union of India and Others.
In its 547-page judgment, the Supreme Court has overruled verdicts in the M.P. Sharma case in 1958 and the Kharak Singh case in 1961. In both these cases, the court had held that the right to privacy is not protected under the Constitution of India.
The judgment included within it six separate judgments from different judges. Besides the Chief Justice, the bench comprised Justices J. Chelameswar, S.A. Bobde, R.K. Agrawal, Rohinton Fali Nariman, A.M. Sapre, D.Y. Chandrachud, Sanjay Kishan Kaul and S. Abdul Nazeer.
Mr. Justice Dr D Y Chandrachud delivered the judgment on behalf of the Chief Justice and Mr. Justice R K Agrawal, Mr. Justice S Abdul Nazeer. Mr. Justice J Chelameswar, Mr. Justice S A Bobde, Mr. Justice A.M. Sapre, Mr. Justice Rohinton Fali Nariman and Mr. Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul delivered separate judgments.