INTO THE ORWELLIAN DYSTOPIA: A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF PERSONAL DATA PROTECTION BILL 2019 VIS-À-VIS INDIAN PRIVACY JURISPRUDENCE

Abstract

The modern-day digitization of elements of data has stirred a debate concerning the moral clash between the state utilitarianism and an individual’s right to privacy. Scholars are apprehensive of the current progression which could further lead to the political state of ‘Orwellian Dystopia’ – created by George Orwell in his creation ‘1984’. It refers to an autocratic state which is being operated using draconian policies of disinformation, crowd manipulation, and state surveillance. In light of fostering the right to privacy, the Indian government introduced the Personal Data Protection Bill 2018 drafted by the Justice BN Srikrishna Committee. It aimed to strengthen an individual’s inherent right to privacy by bestowing control over their personal and private data. However, the Indian government reintroduced the Bill in 2019 with substantial changes to the erstwhile draft Bill. Thenceforth, it has been heavily criticized because it allegedly undermines potential privacy concerns and compromises the very essence of the interpretative advances made in the Supreme Court judgement of Justice KS Puttaswamy (Retd.) v. Union of India. On the aforementioned premise, the authors attempt to bring conceptual precision to the discourse; firstly, by identifying the roots of ‘privacy’ in the common law jurisprudence, and secondly, through a comparative analysis of Personal Data Protection Bills 2018 and 2019 on the altar of Indian privacy jurisprudence. The authors also suggest certain policy changes to bring the challenges of state security and right to privacy to a legitimate equilibrium.