The CCG Privacy High Court Tracker is a resource consisting of decisions on the constitutional right to privacy passed by all High Courts in India. The Privacy High Court Tracker captures cases post the pronouncement of the Justice (Retd.) K.S. Puttaswamy vs. Union of India (Puttaswamy) judgment. In Puttaswamy, the Supreme Court of India reaffirmed the existence of the right to privacy in India’s Constitution as a fundamental right.
The Privacy High Court Tracker is a tool to enable lawyers, judges, policymakers, legislators, civil society organisations, academic and policy researchers and other relevant stakeholders, to engage with, understand and analyse the evolving privacy law and jurisprudence across India. The cases deal with the following aspects of privacy (1) autonomy, (2) bodily integrity, (3) data protection, (4) dignity, (5) informational privacy, (6) phone tapping, (7) press freedom, (8) right to know and access information, and (9) surveillance, search and seizure.
The tracker currently only consists of cases reported on Manupatra, and those reported upto 15 March 2024 (CCG will continue to update the tracker periodically). Only final judgements are included in the tracker, and not interim orders of the High Courts.
Show methodologyBodily Integrity || Himachal Pradesh High Court
1 Judge
Decision Date - 23.06.2020
Citation - 2020 (2) ShimLC 1130, MANU/HP/0524/2020
Case Type - Criminal Misc. Petition (Main) u/s 482 CrPC
Case Status - Disposed.
Legal Provisions - Article 20(3) of Constitution of India, 1950
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"Subjecting a person to the impugned techniques in an involuntary manner violates the prescribed boundaries of privacy and forcible interference with a person's mental processes is not provided for under any statute and it most certainly comes into conflict with the "right against self-incrimination""
Read moreUndergoing Narco Analysis, polygraph and BEAP tests with consent of the accused is not violative of right to privacy.
Read moreDignity and Surveillance, Search and Seizure || Himachal Pradesh High Court
1 Judge
Decision Date - 08.12.2023
Citation - Cr.MMO No. 129 of 2023
Case Type - Criminal Miscellaneous Petition (Main)
Case Status - Petition dismissed.
Legal Provisions - Sec. 5 of the Identification of Prisoners Act, 1920 and Sec. 311A of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973
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"It was submitted that only the accused can be directed to give a voice sample. It is difficult to agree with this submission. The Hon’ble Supreme Court has specifically held that the Magistrate has the power to direct any person to give a voice sample and the judgment is not confined merely to the accused. This power has been conferred for a proper investigation and there is no reason why only the accused and not any other person should be directed to give a voice sample. The only question is whether giving the voice sample is essential for the proper investigation of the case or not."
Read moreFundamental right to privacy must bow down to compelling public interest i.e. in the present case, the magistrate had exercised their powers to obtain a voice sample from a witness, which was upheld by the court.
Read moreMethodology
The Privacy High Court Tracker has been developed using judgements pulled from the Manupatra case law database. Through its search function, CCG identified cases that relied upon the Puttaswamy judgment and were pertaining to the right to privacy, and filtered them by each of the 25 High Courts in India. These were then further examined to identify those cases whose decisions concerned a core aspect of privacy. CCG identified the following aspects of privacy (1) autonomy, (2) bodily integrity, (3) data protection, (4) dignity, (5) informational privacy, (6) phone tapping, (7) press freedom, (8) right to know and access information, and (9) surveillance, search and seizure. Cases where only incidental or passing observations or references were made to Puttaswamy and the right to privacy were not included in the tracker. The selected cases were then compiled into the database per High Court, with several details highlighted for ease of reference. These details consist of case name, decision date, case citation and number, case status, legal provisions involved, and bench strength. The tracker also includes select quotes concerning the right to privacy from each case, to assist users to more easily and quickly grasp the crux of the case.
For ease of access to the text of the judgments, each case on our tracker is linked to the Indian Kanoon version of the judgment (wherever available) or an alternative open-access version of the judgment text.
We welcome your feedback. In addition, you may write to us at - ccg@nludelhi.ac.in with the details of any privacy case we may not have included from any High Court in India.
