Is Oyo's policy a violation of privacy?
Article 21 of the Constitution provides every citizen the right to life and personal liberty. Under this right, a person has the freedom to live his life according to his wish, which also includes the freedom to form personal relationships. When private companies like oyo refuse to provide services to a person based on their personal relationship, it may violate the rights that the supreme court has established in several decisions.
Patna high court lawyer Pratik, while talking to ABP Live, said in response to this question that Oyo's new rule or new policy deprives unmarried couples of their rights. If a couple takes a private decision about their relationship, then oyo has no right to monitor them in any way or question their personal relationship. He further said that Oyo's new policy may violate the rights of privacy and autonomy. Whether an unmarried couple should use hotel services or not is their personal decision, which comes under their rights, and there should not be any kind of external interference in it.
Supreme court decisions and the right to privacy
The supreme court has given many such decisions in the last few years, which has made it clear that the right to privacy, autonomy and choice of relationship is protected by the Constitution, and it should be protected from any kind of external interference. Two major decisions among these decisions are the case of Shafin Zaheer vs Ashokan K.M. (2020) and Navtej Singh Johar vs Union of india (2018).
In the case of Shafin Zaheer vs Ashokan K.M. (2020), the supreme court held that Article 21 includes the right of individuals to choose their life partner, whether within or outside marriage. The court made it clear that this right is linked to the right to privacy and freedom of the individual. At the same time, in the case of Navtej Singh Johar vs Union of india (2018), the supreme court held that all individuals have the right to physical, mental, emotional and sexual relations. The court had also said in its decision that there should not be any kind of interference in this right, regardless of the relationship.
In such a situation, Oyo's new policy, which denies hotel services to unmarried couples, seems to violate this right. This policy not only limits the right to privacy of unmarried couples, but it also raises questions on their personal freedom and the right to decide their relationships.
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