WhatsApp protection: Hearing begins in Supreme Court

New Delhi: The regulated and brazen collection and collocation of data and by parties WhatsApp, Facebook and their ilk, creates a constant fear and inhibition in the mind of the citizens and these should be protected by a law, argued senior advocate K.V. Viswanathan, in the Supreme Court on Monday. He made this submission before a Bench of Justices Dipak Misra, A.K. Sikir, Amitav Roy, A.M. Kanwilkar and M.M. Shantanagouder said this present petition filed by Karmanya Singh Sareen and others raises several far-reaching constitutional issues, including issues concerning an individual’s freedoms and Informational Autonomy.

He said the net result is that the fear and inhibition create a chilling effect in their minds and shackles their free thought and expression, directly impinging upon their fundamental right under Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution. The reverberations of this serious inroad is also felt in the individual’s right under Article 21 (right to life and liberty), in as much as, it seriously impinges upon his/her peaceful existence. The perpetual feeling that one is under constant surveillance denudes life of all its vitality.                                   

Counsel submitted that there is an obligation on the State to step-in and ensure that the device adopted by parties like WhatsApp do not make in- roads into the citizen’s basic human rights. Their defence that these are done with the consent of the citizens has only to be stated to be rejected. While it is fairly well settled that fundamental rights cannot be waived, such deceptive consent  is no consent in the eye of law as there has been no waiver / relinquishment with full and clear understanding of the aspects involved.