Thursday, August 24, 2017

My Right To My Privacy

'First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.' Mahatma Gandhi

Seems like this came true yesterday after the right to privacy verdict from the SC that saed that 'privacy is a fundamental right, protected as an intrinsic part of the right to life and personal liberty and as part of the freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution.'
In a landmark decision, the Supreme Court on August 24, 2017 unanimously ruled that the right to privacy was a fundamental right under the Constitution. A nine-judge Constitution bench headed by Chief Justice J.S. Khehar ruled that “right to privacy is an intrinsic part of Right to Life and Personal Liberty under Article 21 and entire Part III of the Constitution“.

Coming to the aadhar, that must be thrashed now, we already have enough of id cards right? The issue is not about owning yet another (aadhar) card. It is about one's right to privacy. Would you like the police and other people in uniform enter your house at night in the name of checking you for some nonsense just because they think your right to privacy is not absolute (like it happens in many of the countries functioning on pseudo-democracy in the West giving us a chance to see what happens when fascist corporate powers takes over nations)? Would you like our women to be strip-searched on the pretext of national security because the government thinks it has the absolute power to decide the level of privacy citizens may have? What draconian law will that be?
Strange people may ask, what is it I do that I need to hide(?) Well, I too would like to be an open book... yet, even an 'open' book reserves it right to open only to two pages... right? Let me retain that right to remain silent if I wish to. I do not want my finger prints taken, my eyes scanned in the name of providing a card, nor have a microchip inserted into my body or have a gps tied to my ankle, nor my body inked with tattooed numerical codes in the pretext of providing me with an unique code - to find me just in case I get lost - all for my own good you see!  All these great goodness done for me with pretexts I care a damn about - If I rubbish these as nonsense and say a 'No, thank you' to their pretentious offers with hidden corporate agendas, I get branded as a 'Communist', a 'Leftist' or even better, an 'Anti-national goon'. Well for A-holes who do say that, well here is my reply, 'I love this country and the fact that we live to enjoy this freedom marching on the dead backs of thousands who sacrificed their body, mind, family and soul for that cause, makes me love it even more. I do what I do because of this more than anything else. I love this country unconditionally as I reserve my right to critically analyze and even hate (if I must) the government(s) that run it"
My body, my rights... I do not want to live without them.
Aadhar should go away like its founder has ran away from the scene following the judgement - perhaps even before when he  could sense the impending judgement. Rights should be established. Democracy must reign in its true sense. Truth alone triumphs. Satyameva Jayate...  Happy to be in a country where this jurisprudence has gone into the jurisdiction. Aren't you?

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