Apar GuptaCentral Public Information Officer, Supreme Court of India v. Subhash Chandra Agarwal
The Supreme Court of India ruled that it falls under the Right to Information Act as a public authority. This decision stemmed from requests by activist Subhash Chandra Agarwal for information on judges’ assets and appointments, initially denied but later granted by the Chief Information Commission. The Delhi High Court upheld this ruling which was then appealed to the Supreme Court. The Court balanced privacy rights against the public interest, concluding that information about its functioning and judicial assets should be disclosed for transparency, while third-party information required further examination.
When privacy was made supreme
The month of August marks a momentous event in the story of our nationhood as we celebrate our independence from colonial rule. The very basis was a constitutional choice, which civil rights lawyer K G Kannabiran put it as the “termination of imposed suzerainty”. Two years ago, this sentiment seemed to be achieved with the historic decision of the Supreme Court in the Puttaswamy Privacy case, in which nine judges unanimously affirmed the fundamental right to privacy. This newspaper reported the apex court’s decision on the front page with the electric headline — Privacy Supreme.
Madras HC hears on the feasibility of tracing on end-to-end messaging platforms
Facial recognition will threaten individual liberty
With rise in crime and insecurity, many are looking towards technological solutions. A predominant application is the widespread installation of CCTV cameras and, more recently, the government’s proposed Automated Facial Recognition System (AFRS). A tender released by the National Crime Records Bureau for the AFRS wants to build a system capable of, “criminal identification, verification and its dissemination among various police organizations and units across the country.” What would a functional AFRS mean for people in a city like New Delhi, where the state government recently commissioned the installation of 1.4 lakh CCTV cameras? How would the integration of CCTV cameras and AFRS work?