Representing the Mamta Banerjee government, senior advocate Kapil Sibal began his submissions in the Supreme Court opposing Aadhaar on day seven of the hearing, by quoting Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent speech at Davos where he said, “Whoever controls the data, controls the world.”

A five-judge Constitution Bench led by Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra was hearing a batch of pleas challenging the constitutional validity of Aadhaar. Sibal succeeded senior advocate Shyam Divan, who had inaugurated the hearing that has at least 27 petitioners opposing the Centre’s decision to make the voluntary unique biometric identification scheme mandatory.

By quoting Prime Minister Modi, Sibal tried to impress upon the Bench, the Centre’s grand and ambitious scheme that would result in control over every citizen’s personal data to have a grip on them. To buttress his argument, Sibal suggested that the quote essentially meant those “who control data in India will control India” and that the state will use the power like “never before”.

Aadhaar is nothing but a right to information on the citizens for the State, Sibal told the bench that also comprised Justices AK Sikri, AM Khanwilkar, DY Chandrachud and Ashok Bhushan.

This is the most important case the top court would hear since independence, Sibal said during his arguments. The issue was not about how much money could be saved, he said, the main point was whether citizens could be deprived of their fundamentals rights.

“Digital world is far more susceptible to manipulations than the physical world,” he said, adding “no legislation can or should allow an individual’s personal data to put at risk”. No technology is safe ad moreover, there is no assurance that data would remain safe in the digital world.

The Bench asked, “How does the court decide what level of risk is proper or not? Should the court get into this or should it be left to the legislature,” the bench asked.

ARGUMENTS MADE