Privacy a fundamental right, declares Supreme Court

In a landmark and historic judgement, a nine-judge bench of the Supreme Court today unanimously declared right to privacy a fundamental right under Article 21 of the Constitution, setting off far-reaching implications in terms of law and citizenship.

The contentious issue of privacy had emerged when the apex court was dealing with a batch of petitions challenging the Centre's move to make Aadhaar card mandatory for availing the benefits of various social welfare schemes.

There has, however, been no ruling on Aadhaar by Supreme Court today. The verdict, however, could derail the world's largest biometric identification programme that the government is pushing on residents.