Privacy right not absolute, observe SC judges

A Constitutional Bench was setup after a five-judge bench referred the matter to a larger bench

A nine-judge Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court, headed by Chief Justice (CJI) J S Khehar, on Monday began hearing arguments to determine whether the right to privacy was a fundamental right under the Constitution.

During the hearing, some of the judges observed that the right to privacy was not absolute and it was subject to reasonable restrictions mentioned in the Fundamental Rights provisions of the Constitution. In this context, they mentioned the Right to Freedom of Press, mentioned in the chapter on Fundamental Rights, but subjected to reasonable restrictions.

Senior advocate Gopal Subramanium initiated the hearing by saying that