Protection of Personal Data

Though it may sound unsettling, the draft of the Personal Data Protection Bill has been tabled in Parliament, a seed that was sowed in the 2017 K S Puttaswamy judgment is about to become a reality. However, this enthusiasm cannot allay the fears surrounding the provisions of the bill. In 2018, the B N Shri Krishna Committee had prepared a draft by the same title. However, the present government has tweaked that bill and brought a new bill in Parliament. The new bill has a lot of changes as compared to the old draft; the sections have been considerably changed with few provisions missing in the new one (especially Sections 19 and 20 in the old bill, which gave power to the government to process sensitive personal information without consent). However, there is a Section 35, which exempts a government agency from processing any personal data in the interest of the nation (namely in the interest of sovereignty and integrity of India, the security of the state, friendly relations with foreign states, public order). But still, the bill in its present form has enough space for the government and social media websites to govern and search the personal data of the citizens.

If Section 12 (b) and (c) of the bill are seen carefully, they broadly talk about the “processing of personal data without consent.” Under Sub-section (b) and (c), the government can process the personal data of its citizens without their consent on the pretext of any law made by Parliament or state legislature or on any court’s order.