The Supreme Court of India in the Puttaswamy judgement recommended the need to examine and put into place a robust régime for data protection.

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology had constituted a Committee of Experts to deliberate on a data protection framework for India, under the Chairmanship of Mr. Justice B.N. Srikrishna. On 27 July 2018, this expert committee submitted its Report along with a draft bill titled The Personal Data Protection Bill, 2018 to the Ministry of Information and Technology (MeitY). On 14 August, the Ministry issued a call for comments on the draft Bill to be submitted by 10 September 2018.

The Data protection framework would have immense implications for the privacy rights of citizens and for the open Internet. It is important to deliberate whether the draft bill is in tune with the privacy rights of citizens as laid down in the Puttaswamy judgement as well as the expectations of various stakeholders. SFLC​.in is organising this roundtable discussion to discuss the report of the expert committee and the draft Bill. The discussion is organised to facilitate exchange of ideas between various stakeholders so that organizations and individuals can submit informed responses to the Government on the Bill.