Open Access Research Article
DIGITAL PRIVACY AND THE RIGHT TO PRIVACY IN INDIA- A SOCIO- LEGAL RESEARCH
Abstract
ABSTRACT
The rapid
expansion of digital technology has fundamentally transformed the relationship
between individuals, the State, private corporations, and personal information.
In India, digital platforms, smartphones, biometric identification systems,
online banking, electronic health records, social media, artificial
intelligence, and e-governance have become integral to everyday life. These
developments have created significant opportunities for economic growth, social
interaction, public administration, and access to essential services, but they
have simultaneously generated serious concerns regarding privacy, surveillance,
profiling, data breaches, identity theft, behavioral manipulation, and
unauthorized processing of personal information. The constitutional recognition
of privacy as a fundamental right by the Supreme
Court of India
in Justice K.S. Puttaswamy (Retd.) v. Union of
India marked a decisive transformation in Indian constitutional
jurisprudence. The judgment established that privacy is intrinsic to life,
liberty, dignity, autonomy, and individual identity under Article 21 and is also connected with the
freedoms guaranteed under Part III of the Constitution.[1]
The emergence
of digital privacy has consequently expanded the traditional understanding of privacy from physical and spatial protection to informational self-determination and control over personal data.
The enactment of the Digital
Personal Data Protection Act,
2023 represents an important legislative development in this field.[2] Nevertheless, legal protection alone cannot resolve
the socio-legal problems created by digitalisation. The
effectiveness of privacy protection depends upon awareness, digital literacy,
institutional accountability, technological safeguards, accessible remedies, responsible corporate practices, and meaningful limitations on State power. Vulnerable groups, including children, economically weaker persons, rural populations, and persons
with limited digital
literacy, face particularly serious risks because they may have little practical ability to
understand or control the collection and use of their personal data. This paper
examines the evolution, constitutional foundation, statutory framework,
judicial interpretation, and socio-legal dimensions of digital privacy in
India. It argues that privacy should not be understood merely as an individual
right against unauthorized disclosure, but as a broader constitutional guarantee necessary for dignity, autonomy, equality, freedom
of expression, and democratic participation in the digital age.
Published Paper
Author Details
Authors: ASWATHY VISWANATHAN
Registration ID: 1013138 | Published Paper ID: IJLRA13138
Year: Sep-2026 | Volume: 3 | Issue: 6
Approved ISSN: 2582-6433 | Country: Delhi, India
Page No.: 568-589
Article Information
DIGITAL PRIVACY AND THE RIGHT TO PRIVACY IN INDIA- A SOCIO- LEGAL RESEARCH
Authors: ASWATHY VISWANATHAN
- Journal IJLRA
- ISSN 2582-6433
- Volume 3
- Issue 6
About Journal
International Journal for Legal Research and Analysis
- AbbreviationIJLRA
- ISSN2582-6433
- AccessOpen Access
- LicenseCC 4.0
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