A group of lawyers on 9th June uploaded a model citizens’ code, which they said could give the panel pointers to what India’s final privacy law should be. The Internet Freedom Foundation (IFF) launched its community project, ‘Save our Privacy’, in what it described as a bid to safeguard individuals’ right to privacy. This model code, titled ‘Indian Privacy Code, 2018’, has been drafted by lawyers such as Gautam Bhatia, Apar Gupta, and Raman Jit Singh Chima, among others.
“In a world where personal data has power, people need to be put in charge of their own lives,” said New Delhi-based lawyer Apar Gupta. A penalty of up to Rs 10 crore to anyone found to be performing surveillance unlawfully, with a prison term of up to five years. A Constitution bench of the Supreme Court has finished hearing a slew of petitions against the unique identification number and has reserved its judgement.
“The Indian Privacy Code, 2018 ensures that right to privacy does not undermine the Right to Information Act. All the other existing laws including the Telegraph Act and the Aadhaar Act should be subject to this law,” Chima said. According to a senior official at the home ministry who spoke on the condition of anonymity, the privacy bill hasn’t come up for discussion yet.
“The reason civil society is doing this is that the government is not sharing their draft bills,” said Sunil Abraham, founder of think tank Centre for Internet and Society (CIS). In 2013, CIS had also published a citizen’s draft privacy protection bill.
