right to information vs right to privacy
(ii) In People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) (supra), the rights that were perceived as competing with each other were the right to privacy of the spouse of a candidate contesting election qua the voter’s right to information. In his separate but near concurring opinion, P. Venkatarama Reddi, J. articulated the position thus: “121. … …When there is a competition between the right to privacy of an individual and the right to information of the citizen, the former right has to be subordinated to the latter right as it serves the larger public interest. …” (iii) In Noise Pollution (V.), in Re (supra), the rights that competed with one another, were the rights enshrined in Article 19(1)(a) and Article 21. The clash was between 61 individuals and the persons in the neighborhood. This Court held: “11. Those who make noise often take shelter behind Article 19(1)(a) pleading freedom of speech and right to expression. Undoubtedly, the freedom of speech and right to expression are fundamental rights but the rights are not absolute. Nobody can claim a fundamental right to create noise by amplifying the sound of his speech with the help of loudspeakers. While one has a right to speech, others have a right to listen or decline to listen. Nobody can be compelled to listen and nobody can claim that he has a right to make his voice trespass into the ears or mind of others. Nobody can indulge into aural aggression. If anyone increases his volume of speech and that too with the assistance of artificial devices so as to compulsorily expose unwilling persons to hear a noise raised to unpleasant or obnoxious levels, then the person speaking is violating the right of others to a peaceful, comfortable and pollutionfree life guaranteed by Article 21. Article 19(1)(a) cannot be pressed into service for defeating the fundamental right guaranteed by Article 21. …” (iv) In Ram Jethmalani the right to know, inhering in Article 19(1)(a) and the right to privacy under Article 21, were seen to be in conflict. Right to privacy was asserted by individuals holding bank accounts in other countries. The court had to balance the same with the citizens’ right to know. This Court propounded as follows: “84. The rights of citizens, to effectively seek the protection of fundamental rights, under clause (1) of Article 32 have to be balanced against the rights of citizens and persons under Article 21. The latter cannot be sacrificed on the anvil of fervid desire to find instantaneous solutions to systemic problems such as unaccounted for monies, for it would lead to 62 dangerous circumstances, in which vigilante investigations, inquisitions and rabble rousing, by masses of other citizens could become the order of the day. The right of citizens to petition this Court for upholding of fundamental rights is granted in order that citizens, interalia, are ever vigilant about the functioning of the State in order to protect the constitutional project. That right cannot be extended to being inquisitors of fellow citizens. An inquisitorial order, where citizens’ fundamental right to privacy is breached by fellow citizens is destructive of social order. The notion of fundamental rights, such as a right to privacy as part of right to life, is not merely that the State is enjoined from derogating from them. It also includes the responsibility of the State to uphold them against the actions of others in the society, even in the context of exercise of fundamental rights by those others.”