Right to privacy verdict: Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley welcomed Supreme Court’s judgment earlier today. (PTI Photo) Right to privacy verdict: Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley welcomed Supreme Court’s judgment earlier today. (PTI Photo)

Union Defence Minister Arun Jaitley on Thursday welcomed the Supreme Court judgment on right to privacy as a fundamental right reiterating that the Centre always had a clear stand on the issue. Recognising the verdict as a positive development, Jaitley in a statement to the media said: “The Government always had a clear stand on privacy. It’s positive development, as evolution of Constitutional law goes on there is always an effort to strengthen fundamental rights.”

The defence minister also sought to highlight that even the “apex court accepted that privacy is a fundamental right, but its not an absolute right, it has to be fitted somewhere”. He also slammed the UPA for bringing about Aadhaar without a law: “UPA brought about Aadhaar without a law, without safeguards for data, therefore the challenge was there.”

Jaitley’s remarks comes just hours after Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said the “essence of the judgment is a wider affirmation of the crux of the observation made by the finance minister while moving the Aadhaar act in the house”. The Central Government on Thursday said it always thought of privacy as a fundamental right that is subject to reasonable restrictions. Also Read: Right to privacy verdict: Petitioners say SC ruling will prevent mechanisms for intrusion into personal lives of people

Earlier today, in a landmark verdict, the nine-judge Constitution bench of the apex court unanimously held that right to privacy is a fundamental right guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution. “Privacy intrinsic to freedom of life and personal liberty guaranteed under Article 21 of Constitution,” the nine-judge bench observed. Also Read: Centre welcomes privacy verdict: ‘Crux of Supreme Court judgment wider affirmation of govt view’

Reading out the judgment, Chief Justice of India, Justice Khehar overruled the apex court’s previous judgments in two cases where it had held that right to privacy was not protected by Constitution.

With the nine-judge bench ruling against the government stand on privacy, the Aadhaar case will now be referred to a five-judge bench which will hear a clutch of petitions challenging the validity of the Act.

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