The new fundamental

SC's ruling on the right to privacy is historic

A nine-judge Bench of the Supreme Court has issued an emphatic order in favour of the right to privacy being a fundamental right under the Indian Constitution. Till now, the status of the right to privacy was shrouded in mystery. That is because while many previous judgments (by smaller Benches) of the apex court treated it as a fundamental right, two of the older judgments – M P Sharma v Satish Chandra (1950) and Kharak Singh v The State of Uttar Pradesh (1962) – which were delivered by bigger Benches, had differed. As such, things came to a head when