Right to privacy: Right to relax

By Adv sudheesh s kumar -

 

Most of us view privacy as an individual right.Time has come to look beyond. Priscilla M Regan in her seminal work “Legislating privacy”,  highlights the importance of developing and understanding of the social importance of privacy.She conceptualizes privacy as a value and as a goal of public policy.

In this case,  A Petition filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India,to issue a Writ of Mandamus to direct the second respondent to issue a No Objection Certificate to the petitioner to run a “SPA”.

The petitioner herin is running a Spa in the name and style of “Queen Ayurvedic Cross Spa Centre” at Trichy. Originally, there was no law regulating the
said business and no license was required from any governmental authority. Since vide Gazette Notification No.252 dated 16.07.2018, obtaining of license has been made mandatory, the petitioner applied for such license. Since no action was taken on his request, he filed this writ petition for directing the police authority to issue “no objection certificate”. He also wanted this Court to restrain the police from interfering with the running of the Spa.

The Court held that privacy as guaranteed in
Article 21 takes several different forms-it includes  a right to bodily autonomy, a right to informational privacy and a right to a privacy of choice.            

The installation of CCTV equipment inside premises such as a spa would unquestionably infract upon a person’s bodily autonomy. These are inviolable spaces where the prying eye of the state simply cannot be allowed to enter.

The following observations from the judgment in Puttaswamy are apposite:

“While the legitimate expectation of privacy
may vary from intimate zone to the private zone and from the private to the public arena, it is important to underscore that privacy is not lost or surrendered merely because the individual is in a public place.” (Chandrachud, J, at para 3(f) of his
conclusion).

“The entitlement to such a condition is not
confined only to intimate spaces such as the
bedroom or the washroom but goes with a person
wherever he is, even in a public place.” (J. Bobde at
para 22).

Thereby, any invasion of life or personal liberty must meet the three-fold requirement of (i) legality,
which postulates the existence of law; (ii) need, defined in terms of a legitimate state aim; and (iii) proportionality which ensures a rational nexus between the objects and the means adopted to achieve them.

Therfore  the court in this case observed right to life and personal liberty enshrined in Article 21 of the Constitution of India includes the right to relax.

This right can be exercised in a variety of forms. The Puttaswamy verdict highlights that there are three essential features of privacy – repose, sanctuary and intimate decisions.
“Repose” refers to freedom from unwarranted attention.
“sanctuary” refers to the freedom of keeping things to oneself and “intimate decisions” refers to the freedom of autonomy to make personal life choices.

The right of an individual to avail means of relaxation (in this case, via spa) falls within the ambit of the right of repose and sanctuary. Therefore, any intrusion into the right to relax
shall necessarily have to satisfy the test of legality, legitimate aim and proportionality.

[ Payel Biswas v. The Commissioner of Police, judgment of Madras High Court on 04.01.2022 ]



I am a Legal professional - practicing as a counsel before the High Court of Kerala and the Trial Courts Mainly in Kottayam Zone. I graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Bachelor of Commerce from Mahatma Gandhi University (2014-17) and a bachelor’s degree in law from University of Calicut (2018-21). From November 2021 onwards till July 2022 , I was a Junior trainee at the Firm Tharakan and George Associates. Now I am an Associate Litigator at Tharakan and George Associates. Civil Commercial litigation, Consumer Litigation , Drafting of Legal Documents , Preparation of Title deeds , Registration of Firms and Society are my primary areas of practice. Opinions expressed by me here are in my personal capacity, and may not be conclusive. My LinkedIn profile is available at https://www.linkedin.com/in/adv-sudheesh-s-kumar-632977234/

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Media Trial - An Analysis of Various Judgments in the light of Actor Dileep’s verdict.

By Adv sudheesh s kumar -
In this rapidly evolving world, society is developing at a rapid pace. The increased use of Artificial intelligence and its growth has not only affected the day-to-day affairs of the people, but also the government and the judiciary. Nowadays, an individual begins their day by engaging in Social media. The rapid growth of Social media influencers and destroyed the individual thinking capacity of a person. Even the food culture of an individual is decided by food vloggers.   Media Trial refers to the high-profile legal cases that receive extensive media coverage and social media campaigns. The over-involvement of the media creates massive decision-making, which creates a prejudiced mind in the entire judicial process. Recently, in the case of Dileep’s Verdict, the media and the vloggers are reacting before publishing the Judgment. Their guesswork and hidden interest, and exaggerated opinions tempt the individual's thought process and radical reasoning. Each media is crea...
CONTINUE READING

What are the procedures in mutating the property based on Will or What to do if some one raise objection to mutation based on Will ? See what Kerala High court says .

By Adv sudheesh s kumar -
First of all I would like to draw the significant importance of the will and other documents, A will is one of the most solemn documents known to law. Unlike other documents, the testator who had departed the temporal state cannot be called to confirm the genuinity of the Will. Hence trustworthy and unimpeachable evidence is insisted to establish the genuinity and authenticity of a will.The onus of proving the will is on the propounder. Regarding the statutory norms: Section 63 of the Indian Succession Act deals with the procedure to proof the execution of a will.The same need to be proved atleast through one of the attesting witness, if the attesting witness are alive. Hence the statutory provision make it incumbent for a document required by law to be attested to have its execution proved by atleast one of the attesting witness, if alive and subject to the process of the court conducting the proceedings involved and is capable of giving evidence. But the above said statutory norms is...
CONTINUE READING

CASE SUMMARY : State of UP V. Nawab Hussain

By Adv sudheesh s kumar -
  Case Summary: State of UP V. Nawab Hussain CITATION : (1977) 2 SCC 806: AIR 1977 SC 1680 BENCH : HON’BLE JUSTICE P.N. SHINGHAL INTRODUCTION The Appeal deals with the sub-set of the principle of Res Judicata that is Constructive res judicata mentioned in the explanation IV and V of the section 11 of the civil procedure code.  It states that if a plea is filed by a party in a proceeding between him and the defendant, he will not be allowed to take the pleas against the similar parties in the later proceedings with respect to the same subject matter. FACTS An anonymous complaint was filed against Nawab Hussain, the respondent who was a confirmed police sub inspector in Uttar Pradesh. The complaint was investigated by Inspector Suraj Singh who submitted his report to superintendent of the police. Perhaps two cases were registered against the respondent, one was under prevention of corruption act and the other was under the Indian Penal Code. Due to which he was dismi...
CONTINUE READING