SC verdict will herald new era for individual rights: Sonia Gandhi

NEW DELHI: Congress President Sonia Gandhi today said the Supreme Court verdict on right to privacy heralds a new era for individual rights and human dignity and strikes a blow on "unbridled encroachment and surveillance" by the state and its agencies in the common man's life.

Welcoming the judgement, she said the Congress party and its governments along with opposition parties stood together in court and in Parliament in speaking out for the right and against, what she called, the "arrogant attempts" of the Centre to curtail them.

"The Supreme Court judgement on 'Fundamental Right to privacy' heralds a new era for individual rights, personal liberty and human dignity. It strikes a blow on the unbridled encroachment and surveillance by the state and its agencies in the life of the common man," she said in a statement.

In a landmark decision that will affect the lives of all Indians, the Supreme Court today unanimously declared that right to privacy was a Fundamental right under the Constitution.

A nine-judge Constitution bench headed by Chief Justice J S Khehar ruled that "right to privacy is an intrinsic part of Right to Life and Personal Liberty under Article 21 and entire Part III of the Constitution".