Aadhaar will see Orwellian state' security, says Supreme Court
Mr Divan argued that Aadhaar was nothing but electronic mapping of citizens.
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday observed that right to privacy of citizens in sharing Aadhaar details and national interest should be balanced.
A five-judge Constitution bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices A.K. Sikri, A.M. Khanwilkar, D.Y. Chandrachud and Ashok Bhusan made this observation during the course of hearing of a batch of petitions questioning the validity of Aadhaar card even as senior counsel Shyam Divan argued that Aadhaar programme will lead to a police raj.
In particular Justice Chandrachud told counsel, “We live in times of terrorism, money laundering. One needs to balance out the right to privacy.”
Mr Divan argued that Aadhaar was nothing but electronic mapping of citizens and nowhere in the world in any democracy it happens. He said individuals are free to lead a life without constant gaze of the government.
Justice Chandrachud said that when private operators like Google tap the same types of information, Mr Divan replied that Google is not a state. “Here, government tracks you in real time and it becomes a police state and our Constitution doesn’t allow this,” he said.