Defamation And Right To Privacy - A Critical Analysis

Ishika Busi, Symbiosis Law school, Hyderabad

ABSTRACT

Privacy is understood as a part of a person’s life which is personal to the individual. And includes personal information like, an email address, residence address, office address, marital status, employment details, et cetera. The Right to Privacy was recognised on September 29th, 2018, by the Supreme Court of India under Article 21 of Constitution of India in the case of K.S. Puttaswamy vs. Union of India. In many cases this personal information is given to various institutions like, school, offices, hospitals et cetera. And while personal information must be kept keeping the safety guidelines in mind there are times when there is a breach of the information, and this breach can lead to defamation in certain cases. Defamation taking place because of breach of privacy is a serious issue. And so, defamation is treated as both civil and criminal wrong accordingly. As on date the technology is being developed at a faster rate and such, breaches and violation can take place even more easily in the present circumstances and so, laws need to be in place to avoid the same. This paper shall look into the defamation and right of privacy and the current position of the same in India.

Keywords: Privacy, defamation, breach, violation, technology