GS Paper II 2017 · Q12
15 marks · 250 words Constitution: evolution, features & basic structure X-Ray · Core #21Examine the scope of Fundamental Rights in the light of the latest judgement of the Supreme Court on Right to Privacy.
Approach · directive: “examine”
What it asks · Explain how the nine-judge Puttaswamy judgement (2017) widened Part III by treating privacy as a fundamental right, what it covers and limits, and its effects on other rights and laws.
It asks 2 things — answer each
- Explain what the Puttaswamy judgement (2017) held on the right to privacy and why
- Examine how it widens the scope of Fundamental Rights: what privacy covers, its limits, and its effect on other rights and laws
Open with · In Justice K.S. Puttaswamy (Retd.) v. Union of India (24 August 2017), a nine-judge Bench unanimously held privacy to be a fundamental right; the lead opinion called it 'the constitutional core of human dignity'.
Cover
- Source: privacy is an intrinsic part of life and personal liberty under Article 21 and of the freedoms in Part III, including Articles 14 and 19.
- M.P. Sharma (1954) and Kharak Singh (1962) stand overruled to the extent they denied privacy; the wide reading of Article 21 since Maneka Gandhi (1978) is confirmed.
- New content: bodily integrity, decisional autonomy over family, marriage and food, and informational privacy in a digital age.
- Method: Articles 14, 19 and 21 read together; rights evolve with new conditions; privacy attaches to the person, not the place.
- Limits: a three-fold requirement of law, legitimate State aim and proportionality; welfare, security and crime prevention remain legitimate aims.
- Effect on laws: the Srikrishna committee (31 July 2017) drafted a bill; Parliament enacted the Digital Personal Data Protection Act on 11 August 2023.
Close with · Puttaswamy reverses the burden: the State must now justify each intrusion; the DPDP Rules, 2025 mark the full operationalisation of the 2023 Act built on it.
Add value (verified)
- Puttaswamy (2017): the right to privacy is protected as an intrinsic part of life and personal liberty under Article 21 and as part of the freedoms in Part III.Justice K.S. Puttaswamy (Retd.) v. Union of India, judgment of 24 August 2017 - Supreme Court of India (api.sci.gov.in) ↗“The right to privacy is protected as an intrinsic part of the right to life and personal liberty under Article 21 and as a part of the freedoms guaranteed by Part III of the Constitution”
- The lead opinion in Puttaswamy describes privacy as the constitutional core of human dignity.Justice K.S. Puttaswamy (Retd.) v. Union of India, judgment of 24 August 2017 - Supreme Court of India (api.sci.gov.in) ↗“Privacy is the constitutional core of human dignity.”
- Puttaswamy overruled M.P. Sharma and the majority in Kharak Singh to the extent they denied privacy.Justice K.S. Puttaswamy (Retd.) v. Union of India, judgment of 24 August 2017 - Supreme Court of India (api.sci.gov.in) ↗“P. Sharma (supra) and the majority in Kharak Singh (supra), to the extent that they indicate to the contrary, stand overruled.”
- Puttaswamy: privacy is not lost merely because a person is in a public place; restraints must meet a three-fold requirement.Justice K.S. Puttaswamy (Retd.) v. Union of India, judgment of 24 August 2017 - Supreme Court of India (api.sci.gov.in) ↗“privacy is not lost or surrendered merely because the individual is in a public place”
- Parliament enacted the Digital Personal Data Protection Act on 11 August 2023; the DPDP Rules, notified on 14 November 2025, mark its full operationalisation (PIB).Digital Personal Data Protection Rules, 2025 - PIB backgrounder, November 2025 ↗“Parliament enacted the Digital Personal Data Protection Act on 11 August 2023.”
Question: UPSC's CS (Main) 2017, GS Paper II — paper ↗. Approach: Minimalist IAS, checked 3 Oct 2026 (how we verify) — UPSC publishes no model answers. ·
Model answer· 347words · Minimalist IAS
In Justice K.S. Puttaswamy (Retd.) v. Union of India (24 August 2017), a nine-judge Bench unanimously held privacy to be a fundamental right. The lead opinion called privacy 'the constitutional core of human dignity'. The ruling changed not one right but the way all of Part III is read.
What the Court held on privacy
- Constitutional home: privacy is protected as an intrinsic part of life and personal liberty under Article 21, and as part of the freedoms in Part III.
- Old cases overruled: M.P. Sharma (1954) and Kharak Singh (1962) 'stand overruled' to the extent they denied a right to privacy.
- Continuity: the wide reading of Article 21 begun in Maneka Gandhi (1978) was confirmed, not replaced.
- 1954: M.P. Sharma denies privacy
- 1962: Kharak Singh
- 1978: Maneka Gandhi widens Article 21
- 2017: Puttaswamy
- 2023: DPDP Act
How it widens the scope of Fundamental Rights
- New content: bodily integrity, decisional autonomy over family, marriage and food, and informational privacy in a digital age.
- Rights read together: Articles 14, 19 and 21 are read as one interlinked code, not sealed boxes.
- Living rights: guarantees grow with new conditions instead of freezing at the 1950 text.
- Person, not place: privacy is not lost merely because a person is in a public place, so protection reaches public spaces too.
- Dignity-led reading: courts can protect intimate choices that the text never named.
Limits that keep the right workable
- Three-fold test: any intrusion needs a law, a legitimate State aim and proportionality between aim and means.
- Balance retained: welfare delivery, national security and crime prevention remain legitimate aims, reconciled with privacy through safeguards.
Effect on other laws
- Data protection: the Justice B.N. Srikrishna committee, set up on 31 July 2017, drafted a bill; Parliament enacted the Digital Personal Data Protection Act on 11 August 2023.
- Scrutiny of the State: surveillance and data collection must now pass the three-fold test.
Puttaswamy reverses the burden: the citizen need not prove the right exists; the State must justify each intrusion. The DPDP Rules, notified on 14 November 2025, carry that promise into India's digital governance.
Prepared by Minimalist IAS to the answer standard of Shivam Singh (mentor, 7 years) · facts checked against official sources (how we verify) · updated 3 Oct 2026. UPSC publishes no model answers: compare your structure and coverage with this, then write your own.
