Seeking call data records (CDR) of phone subscribers is infringement of Right to Privacy, the Congress said on Wednesday in response to reports that the Department of Telecommunication (DoT) had sought CDR for specific days on specific routes.
Though the Congress had moved an adjournment motion in the Lok Sabha on the issue, the Chair did not allow it.
However, party MP Manish Tewari addressed a press conference in which he said that seeking CDR this way “is contrary to top court’s judgment that held Right to Privacy as a fundamental right.”
“Reports which have emerged in the public space are extremely disturbing because the government has decided that it will carry out mass surveillance against citizens of India. A sinister, premeditated, orchestrated plot has been put in place in order to unleash the mass surveillance programme against the citizens of India, which is absolute transgression of the Right to Privacy guaranteed by the Supreme Court in a 9/0 judgment,” Mr. Tewari said.
“We strongly condemn and deprecate the assault on the freedom and fundamental rights given by the Constitution,” he added.
Though the UPA government had tightened the rules regarding obtaining CDR, electronic interception of telephones and cybercommunication, Mr. Tewari alleged that they were not being followed.
“Why and how are these things being violated with impunity on a daily basis?” he asked.
