AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi on Saturday, June 20, 2026, sharply criticised a new policing or data-gathering measure, calling it a 'blatant violation' of the landmark Puttaswamy privacy judgement and warning it would enable further abuse of citizens' rights.

Context

In his post on X, Owaisi wrote: 'This is a blatant violation of the Puttaswamy judgement, which recognised right to privacy as a fundamental right. In a country where cops can arrest you for drinking tea suspiciously, this will just enable more abuse of citizens' rights.' The statement was directed at what appears to be a fresh government measure touching on surveillance, biometrics, or law-enforcement data collection — the precise policy instrument has not yet been formally identified in public record.

The Hyderabad MP invoked the Supreme Court's 2017 nine-judge bench ruling in Justice K.S. Puttaswamy (Retd.) v. Union of India, one of the most consequential constitutional judgements in recent Indian history, to anchor his objection in established law rather than political opinion.

Policy Backdrop

The 2017 Puttaswamy judgement unanimously held that informational privacy is a fundamental right protected under Article 21 of the Constitution. It set a three-part test — legality, necessity, and proportionality — that any state intrusion into personal data or bodily autonomy must satisfy.

Since that ruling, successive statutes and executive rules on biometrics, CCTV mandates, criminal-procedure reforms, and digital data collection have drawn repeated legal challenges from opposition lawmakers and civil liberties groups. The Digital Personal Data Protection Act and rules framed under it remain under parliamentary and judicial scrutiny for how well they honour the proportionality standard the Supreme Court established.

Owaisi's reference to police arresting citizens for drinking tea 'suspiciously' alludes to a pattern of discretionary and vaguely worded powers that critics say leave ordinary citizens — particularly from marginalised communities — exposed to arbitrary enforcement when new surveillance tools are introduced without robust safeguards.

Stakeholders and Impact

Civil liberties advocates and digital-rights organisations have long argued that India's law-enforcement architecture lacks the independent oversight mechanisms needed to prevent misuse of expanded surveillance capabilities. Owaisi, who frequently raises minority-rights and civil-liberties concerns in Parliament, has positioned this objection as one that cuts across community lines — framing it as a threat to every citizen's constitutional guarantees.

Citizens subject to any new data-collection or policing measure would be the most directly affected, with marginalised communities historically bearing a disproportionate share of discretionary police action. Legal challenges before the Supreme Court or High Courts are a likely avenue for those contesting the measure's constitutional validity.

What's Next

Opposition parties and civil-society groups are expected to demand a detailed parliamentary debate on the measure's legal basis and compliance with the Puttaswamy proportionality test. Any constitutional challenge would likely be heard against the backdrop of pending cases under the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, making the Supreme Court's evolving privacy jurisprudence the decisive battleground. Owaisi's intervention signals that the issue will be pressed both inside Parliament and in public discourse in the weeks ahead.