The case of Justice K.S. Puttaswamy (Retd.) and Anr. v. Union of India and Ors. is a landmark judgment delivered by the Supreme Court of India on August 24, 2017. The case originated from a petition filed by retired Justice K.S. Puttaswamy in 2012, challenging the constitutional validity of the Aadhaar scheme, which required the collection of biometric data for a unique identification number. The core problem it solved was a long-standing constitutional ambiguity regarding whether the right to privacy was a fundamental right under the Indian Constitution.
A nine-judge bench of the Supreme Court unanimously held that the right to privacy is protected as an intrinsic part of the right to life and personal liberty under Article 21 of the Constitution, and is also supported by Articles 14 and 19. The ratio of the judgment is that privacy is a fundamental right, integral to human dignity and individual autonomy, but is subject to reasonable restrictions imposed by a valid law that meets the standards of legality, necessity, and proportionality. This ruling explicitly overruled previous judgments, such as M.P. Sharma v. Satish Chandra and Kharak Singh v. State of Uttar Pradesh, which had denied constitutional protection to privacy.
The judgment connects directly to the Aadhaar (Targeted Delivery of Financial and Other Subsidies, Benefits and Services) Act, 2016, and its constitutional validity was later tested against the principles laid down in Puttaswamy. Furthermore, the ruling had immediate implications for other concepts, such as the decriminalization of homosexuality, as the Court recognized that sexual orientation is an essential attribute of privacy. The principles established in Puttaswamy also laid the foundation for the subsequent development of a comprehensive data protection framework in India, such as the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023. The core principle—that privacy is a fundamental right—remains unchanged and is now a bedrock of Indian constitutional law.