Are Indians humans or animals? The Supreme Court should decide quickly.

Last month, people in the town of Lumding in Assam found two snakes entwined in a mating ritual. Photos show men covering the snakes with saris and sheets to give them privacy. Animals have no concept of privacy. Nature channels on television regularly show animals or birds mating, scent marking or, in the case of hippos, scattering their dung with their tails. Only humans desire privacy. We are born within walls, in hospitals, we grow up within walls, in our houses, and we travel within walls, in cars or trains or planes. We have doors to prevent anyone entering without permission. Outsiders are entertained in sitting rooms, only family members are allowed into bedrooms and we are alone in bathrooms. Privacy is what makes us human and distinguishes us from other creatures so when the Attorney General told the Supreme Court that citizens of India have no fundamental right to privacy he was saying that we are all animals. This is a crime against humanity. This was in relation to the Aadhar bill which the government sneaked through by attaching it to the Money Bill, which is the government spending program in the Budget. Aadhar is a biometric identity card. The Supreme Court reacted by saying that there is no liberty without privacy but took no action, referring the case to a constitution bench. Aadhar was introduced by the Congress but Narendra Modi took it up with great enthusiasm after becoming prime minister, saying that it was only to assure that benefits were reaching the poor and not being pilfered by officials. Shockingly, the Supreme Court said recently that Aadhar must not be compulsory for handouts but can be forced on citizens to file tax returns and for bank accounts. In other countries criminals are photographed and fingerprinted, and in Canada those records are destroyed if found innocent, but here we are being treated as criminals for paying taxes, when we get nothing from the government. If we have no right to privacy what is to prevent the state from installing CCTV cameras in our homes to see what we are doing? The biggest danger is that terrorists will access to this information and use it to create fake identities. The government says that the information is completely safe and secure. Is it? Professor Ernest Davis says that big data is a gross violation of privacy, can be misused by those in authority and there is no way of appealing it. There have been 4.8 billion cases of data breach since 2013 and Aadhar data will be easily stolen when used by banks to establish identity of an account holder or for a driving licence. This same government had no shame in telling the Supreme Court that Facebook and WhatsApp will be regulated to protect the privacy of users. While deciding on the legality of attaching the Aadhar Bill to the Money Bill the Constitution Bench should decide a more basic question: Are Indians humans or animals? We have a right to know.