The Supreme Court of India is setting up a nine judge bench to consider whether the right to privacy is a fundamental right under the Indian Constitution. This move is a result of multiple legal challenges to Aadhaar, the Indian national biometric identity database, which the Government of India is currently operating without any meaningful privacy protections.
We’re pleased to see the Indian Supreme Court take this important step forward in considering the privacy implications of Aadhaar. At a time when the Government of India is increasingly making Aadhaar mandatory for everything from getting food rations, to accessing healthcare, to logging into a wifi hotspot, a strong framework protecting privacy is critical. Indians have been waiting for years for a Constitutional Bench of the Supreme Court to take up these Aadhaar cases, and we hope the Right to Privacy will not be in question for much longer.