Short note on Right to Privacy

 Right to privacy, though not specifically mentioned in the Constitution of India, has been recognised by the Indian judiciary by interpreting Article 21. 

The right to privacy is the right to be let alone, in the absence of some “reasonable” public interest in a person’s activities. In R. Rajgopal and another v. State of Tamil Nadu, (1994) 6 SCC 632, Jeevan Reddy, J. speaking for the Court observed that in recent times right to privacy has acquired constitutional status.

The right to privacy as an independent and distinctive concept originated in the field of Tort law, under which a new cause of action for damages resulting from unlawful invasion of privacy was recognised.

This right has two aspects which are but two faces of the same coin –

 (1) the general law of privacy which affords a tort action for damages resulting from an unlawful invasion of privacy

(2) the constitutional recognition given to the right to privacy which protects personal privacy against unlawful governmental invasion. Any right to privacy must encompass and protect the personal intimacies of the home, the family, marriage, motherhood, procreation and child-rearing.