No one wants to be put on surveillance: Khurshid on snooping

Union minister Salman Khurshid today questioned the claim made by the father of a Gujarat woman that he had asked the state government to conduct surveillance on his daughter, and said intruding into someone's private life should be done only in the "paramount national interest".
Reacting to reports that the girl's father had written to National Commission for Women asking it not to take cognisance of the matter, Khurshid said a family has no right to take a decision on an individual member's behalf.
"As far as snooping, stalking or following somebody is concerned...I am sorry. Father, mother, a brother or sister has no right. An individual is an individual first and then a member of a family," Khurshid said.

"Why would an individual say I wanted to be snooped. Why would an individual say, I wanted somebody to look into the mails, I wanted somebody to hear my telephone calls. I wanted somebody to take me to airport. I want somebody to be there when I get off the aircraft," he said.
"If there is some crazy person who wants all this done, then I would say he should pay higher taxes, because you are getting the government do things it should not be doing," Khurshid said.
Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a function here, the External Affairs Minister said, "We don't have a business to find out everything about everybody. There is something called privacy....We should respect privacy."

Khurshid said nobody has the right to intrude into an individual's life, but if it has to be done, then it should be done only when it is of paramount national interest.

"And when we have to intrude into people's private life it should be only in paramount national interest, which is unquestionable and uncontroversial. Those who said they never did anything should say what is national interest."
"I think the least should be done is people who are involved should honestly say what they have done. Is this a life you want to live....Government agencies and officials chasing you around, monitoring your telephones.

"Its very easy to find out what people are doing; this is an open society," Khurshid said.