Supreme Court said difficult to accept there is no fundamental right to privacy

The Supreme Court said that in a republic founded on a written Constitution it is difficult to accept that there is no fundamental right to privacy.

The 9 judge Bench made the observation while hearing arguments on the issue whether right to privacy is a fundamental right under the Constitution. This is a key question that is linked to the Aadhaar debate.

The SC had on Tuesday said that the 9 judge bench would deal with the issue of right of privacy. Once decided the petitions challenging Aadhaar scheme would be referred back to the original Bench.

The Bench comprises, Chief Justice J S Khehar, Justices J Chelameswar, S A Bobde, R K Agrawal, Rohinton Fali Nariman, Abhay Manohar Sapre, D Y Chandrachud, Sanjay Kishan Kaul and S Abdul Nazeer.

On an earlier occasion a five judge Bench which dealt with the validity of Aadhaar and right to privacy was unable to decide on the matter. This was owing to two verdicts in 1950 and 1962 which had said that right to privacy was not a fundamental right.