Right to Privacy
*K.S. Puttaswamy v. Union of India* (2017)
A nine-judge Bench of the Supreme Court unanimously held in K.S. Puttaswamy v. Union of India (2017) that the right to privacy is a fundamental right, protected as an intrinsic part of the right to life and personal liberty under Article 21, and also flowing from the freedoms guaranteed under Part III of the Constitution. The judgment laid down a three-fold test for any state action restricting privacy: legality (existence of a law), legitimate state aim, and proportionality.
- Decided by a 9-judge Constitution Bench, 2017; overruled earlier contrary observations in M.P. Sharma (1954) and Kharak Singh (1962)
- Explicitly flagged biometric data (including facial data) as a sensitive category of personal information
- The proportionality test from Puttaswamy is the standard against which mass-surveillance tools like FRS are now tested in Indian courts
● Tracked since February 19, 2026 · last seen August 25, 2026 · updates as the daily brief publishes
See it in today’s brief.
Daily current affairs with every static concept explained in place.
Read the daily brief