In Brief
The Supreme Court held that the right to privacy is a constitutionally protected fundamental right arising from Article 21 (life and personal liberty) and Part III freedoms. Overruling M.P. Sharma (1954) and Kharak Singh (1964), the Court recognized privacy as an inalienable natural right integral to human dignity. Privacy protects multiple dimensions: bodily, spatial, communicational, informational, decisional, and associational. Though not absolute, privacy can be restricted only by validly enacted law pursuing legitimate state aims (national security, crime prevention, welfare) through proportionate means. The decision addresses the constitutional validity of Aadhaar's biometric data collection, requiring robust legislative data protection regimes respecting informational privacy while balancing state interests. Privacy attaches to persons regardless of location or prior disclosure, and both state and non-state actors can violate it.
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