![]() ![]() The Right to Information Act 2005 embodies this liberty. In India in recent years the right to knowledge has become a cornerstone of Indian civil liberties. ![]() The legislation that addresses the release of public information, and defines the categories of information that are considered to be private, is the Right to Information Act 2005. So, does the public have a right to know the content of the conversations, or does Ratan Tata have the right to privacy. ![]() Though the 2G spectrum belongs to the people, and the conversations that were intercepted were planning a scam to defraud the Indian exchequer, the conversations were meant to be private. Whether or not the information intercepted in the phone conversations is public knowledge is an important question to answer. The decision by the courts will help to clarify how Indian society defines privacy, and where the line between public and private falls. Because India does not have a specific legislation on privacy, there is no clear definition of what privacy is, and whether or not Tata has had his privacy invaded. If one looks at the invasion of privacy as the fact that personal contents of conversations were made public with the intent to expose the 2G scam, the claim is really one that his personal privacy has been invaded. If one looks at the privacy invasion as the data that was improperly protected, thus leading to the leak, the Tax Department may be found to have violated the informational privacy of Tata. The type of privacy that has been invaded in this situation is unclear. Indian courts have seen only a handful of cases that have directly appealed for protection of privacy as a fundamental right. First, it will be meaningful to see how the court responds to Tata’s plea for privacy. It will be interesting to see how the court rules on different issues as the case progresses. The Nira Radia tapes case raises many important questions about privacy, wiretapping, transparency and ethics. On December 2nd the Supreme Court issued a notice to restrain the unauthorised publication of the intercepted tapes. He has not objected to the use of the tapes in court, acknowledging that they were obtained legally. Tata claims that the conversations were private, and that the tapes should be withdrawn from the public. In response to his leaked conversations with his consultant Nira Radia, Ratan Tata has filed a petition in the Supreme Court, claiming that his privacy has been invaded. The leak exposed a scam to manipulate the upcoming auctioning off of the 2G spectrum. ![]() Earlier this year, these conversations were leaked to the media by an unknown source. Raja’s appointment as minister, and Vir Sanghvi, editor of the Hindustan Times alleged to have edited articles reducing the blame in the Nira Radia tapes. Raja, the then Cabinet Minister of the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology Ratan Tata, a client of Nira Radia and Chairman of the Tata group of companies and various journalists including: Barkha Dutt, NDTV journalist alleged to have lobbied in support of A. The interception was conducted for suspected tax evasion, possible money laundering, and restricted financial practices. The interception was approved by the Ministry of Home Affairs. In 20 conversations between Nira Radia- a professional corporate lobbyist, and many different individuals were intercepted by Income Tax officials. ![]()
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