Shillong, August 24: The Meghalaya Peoples’ Committee on Aadhaar (MPCA) expresses its deep appreciation to the Nine Judge Constitutional Bench for having come out with an unanimous and historic Ruling in that The Right to Privacy is a fundamental right, in that it is “intrinsic to life and liberty” and has thus overruled its own eight judge Bench and six judge Bench judgements delivered in 1954 and 1961 respectively which then ruled that “privacy is not protected under the Constitution.”
This Ruling has given a much wider implication and relevance to Art. 21 of the Constitution as well, brought in the spirit of Art. 12 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), 1948 and Art 17 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), 1966 and also, would probably bring about rethinking on the attempt to massify human personality, dignity, peculiarities and diversities whereby the individual’s right to privacy is being belittled and made mundane through biometric data collection for all and sundry reasons.
This Ruling would particularly serve as the base for deciding on the pending litigation against Aadhaar and which enrolment tactics and modalities presently adopted are very suspicious so as not to appear breaching the interim order passed by the Honourable Supreme Court, in that Aadhaar enrolment must be voluntary and not mandatory.
MPCA urges upon all concerned and at various levels of authority not to breach upon the right of privacy of each and every individual while attempting to get maximum number of persons for Aadhaar enrolment during a given period of time. As we have received the Ruling on the Right to Privacy, so shall come the Ruling on Aadhaar enrolment and registration. “Force, unaided by judgement, collapses through its own weight.” Said Auguster Jyrwa Rev. P. B. Syngkli Rev. K. Pyrtuh Rev. Dr. P. B. M. Basaiawmoit in the press statement today.
