According to Justice Jasmeet Singh, components of privacy include the freedom to make one’s own decisions, the right to not have one’s body tampered with, and the protection of personal information.
On Thursday, the Delhi High Court ruled that tapping phone lines or recording calls of individuals without their agreement constitutes a “breach of privacy” [Sanjay Pandey v. Directorate of Enforcement]
Justice Jasmeet Singh stated that Article 21 of the Constitution, which protects the right to privacy, prohibits the recording of phone calls without authorization.
“I believe that tapping phone lines or recording calls without permission is a violation of privacy. Article 21 of the Constitution, which guarantees the right to privacy, prohibits the recording of phone calls. The Court stated that without the approval of the parties involved, such conduct would constitute a violation of their basic right to privacy”.
Justice Singh used the Supreme Court’s decision in KS Puttaswamy v. Union of India to establish that the right to privacy is fundamental and inherent to every person as a precondition to exercising their rights.
“The facets of privacy include right of non-interference with the individual body, protection of personal information and autonomy over personal choices,” the Court held.
The observations were made In the decision granting ex-mumbai police chief Sanjay Pandey bail in a money laundering case filed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED).
iSec Services Private Ltd, a company started by Pandey, was accused in a First Information Report (FIR) filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) of recording the phone calls of National Stock Exchange (NSE) personnel.
Illegal tapping of MTNL phones was allegedly in violation of the Telegraph Act, many sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), the Prevention of Corruption Act, and the Information Technology Act.
Justice Singh decided that both the NSE and iSec disregarded privacy and consent when recording the calls, but these apparent violations of the Telegraph Act do not constitute a crime under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, the court ruled when granted Pandey bail.
Attorneys Akhil Sibal, Aditya Wadhwa, Siddharth Sunil, Shivansh Agarwal, Pranay Mohan, Sanya Kumar, and Ranbir Singh represented Pandey.
The Enforcement Division was represented by Additional Solicitor General SV Raju and attorneys Zoheb Hossain, Vivek Gurnani, and Ankit Bhatia.
Written By: Lakshman Singh, B.B.A LL.B (Hons.), Shri Ramswaroop Memorial University, Lucknow
