Privacy Concerns in India’s Surveillance Democracy

Unveiling the Telecommunication Act, through Different Legal Cases

सार

In today's surveillance-driven culture, nearly every detail of human life is monitored, analysed, and stored by oversight institutions. However, these institutions often operate without similar scrutiny, creating an imbalance. This is enabled by laws that give government’s access to and control over citizens' personal data. This article explores the Telecommunications Act of 2023, which has been praised for replacing out-dated colonial-era telecom laws, marking a move toward decolonization. At the same time, the Act introduces measures that expand government control and surveillance, raising serious privacy concerns. The researcher uses a descriptive analysis of secondary data to discuss specific sections of the Act that have sparked criticism for potentially violating privacy rights, enabling mass surveillance, and allowing citizen profiling. These sections were selected for analysis based on legal cases related to the Telecommunications Act, 2023 that have occurred in the country.