India: Puttaswamy v. Union of India — Right to Privacy is a Fundamental Right (2017)
Reference under Article 32 of the Constitution arising from the Aadhaar challenge. The 9-judge bench was constituted to determine, as a foundational question, whether privacy is a fundamental right protected under Part III of the Constitution. Holding (unanimous): the right to privacy is a fundamental right under Article 21 (right to life and personal liberty) and is also protected under Articles 14 and 19. The earlier 8-judge ruling in M.P. Sharma v. Satish Chandra (1954) and the 6-judge ruling in Kharak Singh v. State of Uttar Pradesh (1962) were overruled to the extent inconsistent. Privacy attaches to the person rather than to physical place and includes informational privacy. Any state intrusion must satisfy a three-fold test of legality (existence of a law), need (legitimate state aim) and proportionality. PAI: AT2 verified Case Law reckVW04a8u9f4IgH.
Downstream impact
- Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 — codifies Data Principal rights and the Data Protection Board, framed by Puttaswamy's informational-privacy holding.
- DPDP Rules, 2025 — operationalises the DPDPA; the November 2025 amendment to RTI Act §8(1)(j) is described in PIB materials as "consistent with the Supreme Court's affirmation of privacy as a fundamental right in the Puttaswamy judgment."
- Information Technology Act, 2000 §43A — read with Puttaswamy's "informational privacy" framing for civil liability around personal-data breaches.
- Aadhaar challenge (Puttaswamy II, 2018) — applied the three-fold test to uphold the Aadhaar Act in part and strike down §57 (private-party use of Aadhaar).