The Digital Personal Data Protection Bill, 2022 suffers from flaws which may render it unconstitutional
Digital Personal Data Protection Bill, 2022 was released by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) on November 18. The bill aims to provide a framework for the processing of digital personal data in a manner that recognises both the right of individuals to protect their personal data and the need to process personal data for lawful purposes. However, it fails to do so by not regulating the state surveillance system effectively and not providing a redressal mechanism for the same.
Published on: 2 December 2022, 12:55 pm
Digital Personal Data Protection Bill, 2022 was released by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) on November 18. The bill aims to provide a framework for the processing of digital personal data in a manner that recognises both the right of individuals to protect their personal data and the need to process personal data for lawful purposes. However, it fails to do so by not regulating the state surveillance system effectively and not providing a redressal mechanism for the same.
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DIGITAL rights are strongly associated with the right to freedom of speech and expression and right to privacy. Therefore, the protection of these rights through a special legislation becomes imperative on the part of the legislature. However, in our country it has been a tough ride for data protection legislation to materialise or to take a tangible form. There was not any separate or special legislation that specifically talked about digital rights or data privacy and data protection of individuals. In the name of data protection law, we only have provisions located in multiple other legislations, rules and regulations formed by the government.
Put in this context, will the new Digital Personal Data Protection Bill, 2022, make any difference to the ongoing discourse on digital rights or data privacy? Sadly, the answer appears to be in the negative.
Existing legal architecture
The only central legislation that the country has is The Information Technology Act, 2000 which was promulgated with an aim to facilitate electronic filing of documents with government agencies and to provide legal recognition for transactions executed through electronic data interchange and other means of electronic communication. The Act provides punishments for various digital offences including violation of privacy, cyber-terrorism, identity-theft, cheating by personation by using computer-researched and many other computers-related digital offences.