As it was a long summer break for Supreme Court, only two vacation benches sat since May 17 to deal with urgent matters. After the break, Supreme Court has to deal with few Constitution bench matters which include 1985 amendment to Citizenship Act, 1955. According to the amendment made in 1985, people who migrated from Bangladesh to Assam before 1 January 1966 will be considered as Indian Citizens, provided that they have been ordinarily resident to the state. Another important matter that Supreme Court has to deal with is the legality of Whatsapp’s privacy policy.
Post the acquisition by Facebook, Whatsapp has violated the terms mentioned in its privacy policy. Allegedly, Whatsapp has shared its data with Facebook, posing threat to the privacy of 200 million Whatsapp users in India. Though Whatsapp has denied any such charges, the matter is with the Supreme Court, and the apex court is expected to take a decision on this matter soon.
Another important case which Supreme Court has to deal with is debatable Adhaar Card case. Though constitution bench still has to summon to examine complexities of the involuntary nature of Government’s Adhaar Card Scheme. While examining this, Court has to deal with another situation presenting unseen hazards i.e. whether citizens enjoy the fundamental right to privacy. Five judges led by the Chief Justice of India, KG Balakrishnan, declared that no entity can force a person to submit his blood or voice samples without his/her will and in mandatory cases, a prior consent was made compulsory, forcing a person to do so will violate his/her right of incrimination. This judgement was challenged by Mukul Rohatgi, the former attorney general of the country. He took a stand and said that citizens do not have full rights over their bodies, this forced the court to take this issue to a larger bench, may be a seven-judge bench. Court has a task of making arrangements, keeping in mind the issues raised by activists about the encircled scrutiny inherent in the scheme, that will not hinder their goal of development.