‘Right to Privacy’ is protected under which Article of the Constitution of India? ​

The answer is Article 21. In Justice K.S. Puttaswamy v. Union of India (2017), a nine-judge bench unanimously held that the right to privacy is a fundamental right. It is part of the right to life and personal liberty, and it is not absolute. The Court also said privacy has roots in the freedoms guaranteed under Part III generally, which is why aspirants often confuse it with Article 19.

• Article 15 prohibits discrimination on grounds of religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth. It has nothing to do with privacy.
• Article 19 guarantees six freedoms, such as speech and movement. Privacy was argued under it, but the Court placed the core right under Article 21. Article 19 is a supporting home, not the primary one.
• Article 29 protects the cultural and educational rights of minorities.

The core concept is the expansion of Article 21 through judicial interpretation, which also gave us the right to food, health and a clean environment. For Mains, this links to GS-2 on fundamental rights and GS-3 on data protection, Aadhaar and surveillance. The Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 followed from this judgment.

Trap: Students who remember that Article 19 has the freedoms and assume privacy belongs there. The question asks for the principal provision, and that is Article 21.