| Summary: | <p>This thesis studies the structure of the constitutional right to privacy in India. Recent events in the country — most notably, the Government's judicial challenge to the very existence of this right, a proposed biometric data collection scheme and the fear of mass surveillance — render this study topical.</p> <p>The thesis concludes that the Indian constitutional right to privacy consists of three distinct conceptions — 'physical privacy', 'informational privacy' and 'decisional privacy'. Although the implications of the conceptual distinction between these categories seem to have had a considerable impact on judicial decision-making, they have rarely if ever been expressly articulated. On an examination of the Indian case-law, it may also be seen that the standards of judicial review vary between the three classes of privacy.</p> <p>This thesis takes as its starting point, the Indian cases on privacy. An examination of the privacy case-law since independence reveals that the existence of this right has been reaffirmed time and again. However, conceptual inconsistencies plague most aspects of privacy. A survey of the scholarship on the taxonomy of privacy reveals useful insights. In particular, it provides considerable support for classifying privacy into manageable and conceptually delineable sub-categories. This then permits one to consider the further question — how, if at all, should the judicial treatment of these categories differ? Fortunately, the answers derived from academic literature are largely compatible with the Indian case-law.</p> <p>In light of the Government's challenge, a constitution bench of the Supreme Court of India will soon be called upon to re-adjudicate on the right to privacy. It is hoped that the Court will take this opportunity to bring in much needed clarity into this area.</p>
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