Justice K.S. Puttaswamy v. Union of India (2017): Privacy Is a Fundamental Right

Facts

Justice K.S. Puttaswamy, a retired judge of the Karnataka High Court, challenged the Aadhaar scheme as violating privacy. The government argued that the Constitution didn't recognise a fundamental right to privacy, relying on M.P. Sharma (1954, 8 judges) and Kharak Singh (1962, 6 judges). To settle the question, it was referred to a nine-judge bench.

Issue

Is the right to privacy a fundamental right under the Constitution of India?

Held

1. Unanimously (9–0), the right to privacy is a fundamental right. It is intrinsic to life and personal liberty under Article 21 and part of the freedoms in Part III.
2. M.P. Sharma and Kharak Singh were overruled to the extent they held otherwise.
3. Privacy includes bodily integrity, personal autonomy, informational privacy and the privacy of choice.
4. Privacy is not absolute. Any intrusion must meet a three-part test: (i) legality, meaning a law must authorise it; (ii) a legitimate state aim; and (iii) proportionality, meaning the means must be rationally connected to the aim and not excessive.

The validity of Aadhaar itself was decided separately in 2018 (Puttaswamy (Aadhaar), 5 judges), which upheld the scheme with significant limits.

Why it matters

• It underpins later decisions including Navtej Singh Johar (2018, decriminalising consensual same-sex relations) and Joseph Shine (2018, striking down adultery).
• It shaped India's data protection law, the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023.
• Its proportionality test is now the standard way courts assess state action that limits fundamental rights.

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