Codified Law Empowering Agencies To Undertake Surveillance Subject To Constitutional Mandate Needed : Justice MM Sundresh

On Saturday Justice MM Sundresh spoke on theme “State Surveillance and Privacy – The Lakshmana Rekha” during third Justice H R Khanna Memorial National Symposium organized by CAN Foundation.

Justice M M Sundresh spoke about how the surveillance took development in the world. He started giving its historical background from the origin of word ‘surveillance’ which was originated in 1883 in France. However the concept of surveillance dated back long back from the beginning of civilization. In India , Kautilya wrote about the methods and objectives of the secret service. He further emphasized on establishment of surveillance. French revolution and Republican governments and World War 2.

He further recalled the twin tower attack which lead for strong requirement of surveillance. Therefore countries came up with Prism programs. From talking about the background about surveillance Justice spoke on the current development which aids for better surveillance like CCTV Cameras and facial recognition technology.

Mere construction of surveillance laws is not sufficient. Privacy of the people also to be kept in mind. Recalling the Puttuswamy case in which Right to Privacy was held as basic and core right with reasonable restrictions under Article 21. Also stated that Surveillance and Privacy must exist together.

“There must be a codified law that empowers the agency to undertake acts of surveillance. Such a law must be subject to constitutional mandate”.

Name: Manaswini Datar, University: Karnataka State Law University, Semester: 8^th semester

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