Shaunak Choudhury | Student of SVKM\u2019s NMIMS Kirit P. Mehta School of Law | 21st\u00a0May 2020<\/p>\n\n\n\n
People\u2019s Union for Civil Liberties v. Union of India\u00a0(1997) 1 SCC 301<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Facts <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The Petitioner in this case challenged the constitutional validity of section 5 (2) of the Indian Telegraph Act. This plea came in light of a report filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation regarding \u201cTapping of politicians\u2019 phones\u201d, which highlighted several infringements of privacy and procedure in the matter of tapping the phones of certain personnel. Section 5(2) of the Act allows the Central or State governments or an authorized officer to intercept telegraphs during a \u201cpublic emergency\u201d. The Petitioners claimed that the policy was violative of article 21 as it violates right to privacy (a part of right to life). Under section 7 of the Act, the Central Government can make rules to prevent the abuse of the power given by section 5 (2) of the Act, but in the more than 100 hundred years of the existence of the Act, no government has put forth any such restrictions. The Respondent pleaded that it was essential for the government, in time of public emergency to tap the phones of those individuals that the government suspected. It also argued that the people whose phones were being tapped cannot be informed of that fact because that would defeat the purpose of tapping the phones. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Issues <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Judgement<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Thus section 5(2) of the Indian Telegraph Act 1885 was deemed to be constitutional with the procedural safeguards that were provided by the Supreme Court. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Shaunak Choudhury | Student of SVKM\u2019s NMIMS Kirit P. Mehta School of Law | 21st\u00a0May 2020 People\u2019s Union for Civil Liberties v. Union of India\u00a0(1997) 1 SCC 301 Facts The Petitioner in this case challenged the constitutional validity of section 5 (2) of the Indian Telegraph Act. This plea came in light of a report […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":167,"featured_media":2378,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[66,34,26],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n