Enforcement
of privacy
right in the ICT era is an important part of protection of
human
rights in cyberspace. Privacy rights must be analysed
along with some allied rights like data
protection rights, data security rights, right to
information, etc.
As far as India is concerned, we have no dedicated
privacy
laws in India and privacy rights in India, data
protection laws in India, data security laws in India,
cyber
security laws in India, etc. Privacy
rights and laws in India are required for protecting
human rights in cyberspace that are presently missing in
India.
The matter is already pending
in Supreme Court of India. The Supreme
Court of India must expand privacy rights in India as
Indian Parliament has failed to provide privacy laws in India despite
pressing needs. Further, the Supreme Court of India must also clear
the relationship between national
security and right to information in India.
Instead of providing privacy rights to Indian
citizens, the Indian parliament has curtailed the same through
bringing amendments in the information technology act, 2000 (IT Act
2000) of India. The IT Act, 2000 is the sole cyber law of India that
urgently requires to be repealed.
Indian government is suppressing
privacy rights in India for its own purposes. Even the right to
information act has been diluted to a great extent to keep many
governmental functions out of its ambit. Intelligence agencies of
India are operating without any parliamentary
oversight and diluting right to information in such a
situation is complete endorsement to growing e-surveillance
in India.
It is high time for Supreme Court of India to
prevent further mutilations of almost non existing privacy rights in
India.
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