Unsolicited commercial SMSes violate Right to Privacy: Plea in Delhi HC

The Delhi High Court yesterday issued notice to the Ministries of Information Technology and Telecom, as well as Foodpanda, Dunkin Donuts and Airtel, in a plea seeking directions against these companies for infringing the Right to Privacy under Article 21 by sending unsolicited commercial messages..The petitioner, Arvind Singh, stated that he had been receiving these messages even though he had subscribed to the ‘Do Not Disturb’ (DND) facility of the service provider..It is further stated that despite registering complaints and numerous requests, these messages are being sent at regular intervals. It is alleged in the petition,.“Respondent No. 3 and 4 ignored the request of the Petitioner to stop sending UCC messages & continued to send the Petitioner such UCC messages. It is submitted that the same is in clear violation of Article 21 of the Constitution of India, breaching Petitioner’s Fundamental Right of Privacy.”.The petition argues that online food aggregators and their likes are a threat to a person’s privacy as they obtain consent forcibly and without free will..“Such consent obtained from the customer is forcible and raise legal enforcebility concerns under The Indian Contract Act 1872. If the customer doesn’t accept such terms and conditions at the time of signing up, the service cannot be availed. Such consent and authorization is arbitrary and leaves the customer with no other choice but to register.” .It is also stated that various sections of the IT Act are also being violated by such companies as they store information of customers without adequate disclosure..The petition seeks to get these companies blacklisted and prays for imposition of penalties on them, among other directions. The petitioner also seeks adequate compensation in lieu of the violation of his right to privacy..The Single Judge Bench of Justice Vibhu Bakhru directed the central government to file a counter affidavit within a period of four weeks, and issued notice to the aforementioned companies..The matter will be next heard on December 12..Read the order:.Read the petition: