Article summary
Abstract
The right to privacy, once a marginal concern in Indian constitutional law, has
undergone a seismic transformation over the last decade. The landmark 2017 judgment
in Justice K.S. Puttaswamy (Retd.) v. Union of India did more than simply declare
privacy a fundamental right; it reoriented the entire framework of Indian
constitutionalism. This article argues that India’s journey—from colonial-era
surveillance laws to a progressive, rights-based digital privacy regime—offers a unique
and instructive model for the Global South and the world at large. By examining the
historical evolution, the doctrinal innovations of the Puttaswamy ruling, and the
subsequent legislative struggle over the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023,
this comparative study reveals how India is navigating the tension between state
security, economic development, and individual autonomy. Crucially, the Indian
experience resonates with global debates in the European Union, the United States,
and China, yet carves out a distinctive path that balances constitutional rights with
post-colonial developmental imperatives. This article contends that India’s privacy
jurisprudence is not a mere derivative of Western models but a dynamic, indigenous
constitutional experiment with profound implications for how emerging democracies
conceptualize dignity, data, and the state in the twenty-first century.