(NDTV)
The government welcomes the Supreme Court’s verdict that privacy is a fundamental right, said Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad today, asserting that the judgment by a nine-member bench affirms the government’s position. It was the first government response to what critics have called a massive setback for it after it argued in court that the constitution does not guarantee individual privacy as an inalienable fundamental right.
But Mr Prasad said the government’s view is consistent that right to privacy should be fundamental, also reading from judgments of the different judges on the Supreme Court bench to underscore that they acknowledged privacy “is not an absolute right, it must be subject to some reasonable restrictions.” “Much before the creation of the nine-judge bench, the government, while moving the Aadhaar Bill in Parliament had clearly said that right to privacy is fundamental, flowing from Article 21, subject to reasonable restrictions,” said Mr Prasad.
