India’s Supreme Court ruled Thursday that citizens have a constitutional right to privacy, a landmark verdict that could have wide-reaching implications for the government’s flagship biometric programme.

Privacy is not explicitly mentioned in the Indian constitution, and the government has argued that India’s 1.25 billion citizens cannot expect an absolute right to privacy.

But in a brief statement on Thursday, Chief Justice J.S. Khehar said privacy was “protected as an intrinsic part of Article 21 that protects life and liberty”.

The Supreme Court set up a special bench to rule on the issue after petitioners challenged the government’s Aadhaar biometric programme, which has recorded the fingerprints and iris scans of more than one billion Indians.

source:AFP