India has no dedicated privacy law though provisions pertaining to privacy protection are scattered across various legislations. Even the Constitution of India did not carry any provision protecting privacy rights in India.

It is only by way of judicial interpretation that privacy rights have been conferred by Indian Supreme Court upon Indian citizens under Article 21 of Indian Constitution.

Indian government soon realised that a dedicated privacy law has to be enacted that can consolidate various privacy related aspects at a single place. However, it proved a mammoth task for Indian government to formulate such privacy law.

After many committees and many attempts it has now been indicated that the privacy law of India may be submitted before the Parliament of India during the forthcoming monsoon session of Indian Parliament. One of the proposed provisions of the privacy law has imposed a penalty of Rs. 2 crore for illegal telephone tapping in India.

However, it seems Indian government is still hesitant to formulate such a law. It is natural as well as e-surveillance projects like Aadhaar, central monitoring system, national intelligence grid, etc are in direct conflict with the privacy notions. India has a poor track record of maintaining a balance between national security and privacy protection requirements.

We would cover more about this issue in our subsequent discussions and articles.