Aug 25, 2017 09:42 PM IST | Source: Moneycontrol.com
One activist called the judgement an 'existential threat' to the foundations of the Aadhaar project.
Ankita Bose
Moneycontrol News
The Supreme Court verdict upholding Right to Privacy came as welcome news to Aadhaar activists, who have been striving to nix the Centre's efforts to link the 12-digit identification number to social benefit schemes, subsidies and other benefits.
RethinkAdhaar.in, a campaign actively involved in challenging the multifaceted implications of the Aadhaar project in India is celebrating the verdict which upheld that Right to Privacy is a fundamental right in the Constitution of India.
RethinkAadhaar features extensive work done in the remote areas of Rajasthan which documents rural people encountering several problems in receiving social benefit schemes, subsidies, and pensions linked to their Aadhaar number.
As it eagerly waited for the nine-judge bench to deliver its verdict on the right to privacy hearing, it expressed its happiness once the historic judgement came out.
We welcome the judgment of the Supreme Court affirming the Right to Privacy as a fundamental right #No2UID #AadhaarNahiSudhaar
Praavita, one of the key members of the RethinkAadhaar initiative, told Moneycontrol that the verdict will put greater pressure on the Aadhaar project to prove its legitimacy and lawfulness. "This judgment is an existential threat to the foundations of the Aadhaar project. Now that the 9 judge bench has decided that privacy is a fundamental right, the Aadhaar hearings can now resume. We hope for an early hearing," she said.
She added: "The Centre can do what it wants to do. The Supreme Court has now drawn a line in the sand, a Lakshman Rekha. Everything will be tested on the anvil of the fundamental right to privacy."
She added: "We plan to continue raising awareness on the multiple shortcomings of Aadhaar and its coercive, anti-privacy nature. We also plan to launch a campaign calling for the delinking of Aadhaar from the multiple programmes."
Praavita, who calls herself a feminist, was also confident that the judgement will prove to be beneficial for the LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer) rights activists in decriminalising homosexuality and battling Article 377 of the Indian Constitution.
"For me, the right to privacy is the heart of dignity and democracy. It means the right to be free from constant surveillance, it means that the state does not have unfettered powers over my life, and I have the freedom to dissent. Privacy to me is important as a feminist and an activist," she said.