MoS Home assures to look into 'violation of privacy' by Telangana govt

Union Minister of State for Home Affairs G Kishan Reddy on Monday assured a Congress delegation of looking into complaints of illegal accumulation and integration of personal data by the Telangana government through 'Samagra Vedika' initiative.

A delegation of Congress leaders, led by AIC spokesperson Dr Sravan Dasoju, met the MoS at his office here demanding an independent and fair investigation into the actions of the state government.

"They also submitted a complaint accusing Telangana Government of violating Article 21 of the Constitution of India, the Data (Privacy & Protection) Act, Information Technology Act and the dictum of the Supreme Court," an official statement said.

The letter also said that the data was allegedly being misused by TRS for their own political gains.

It said that according to a July 5 statement by the Principal Secretary of IT Department, Jayesh Ranjan, it is clear that the state government illegally indulged in secretive collection, integration and storage of private and personal data.

"It is apparent that the state government is literally tracking every digital transaction of citizens from various government departments, private organisations and banks and financial institutions including personal emails, passwords, etc," Sravan alleged in the statement.

"The state government is violating the fundamental rights of the citizens, more particularly their rights enshrined under Article 14 and 21 of the Constitution," it said.

He also alleged that the state government did not implement adequate data protection and security measures.

"The present government has been repeatedly accused of spying and intruding into the private data of citizens. Therefore, the past allegedly suspicious conduct of the government and its present actions clearly pose a threat to sensitive and confidential data of various citizens," it said.

"TRS party has been given privileged access so that it could copy the entire citizens' data and misuse the same in the forthcoming Municipal elections for its political gains," it added.