Ratan Tata calls for law against invasion of privacy

Amid the raging controversy over phone tapping, Tata Group Chairman Ratan Tata has said there is a need for a law to keep a tab on invasion of people's privacy.

Amid the raging controversy over phone tapping, Tata Group Chairman Ratan Tata has said there is a need for a law to keep a tab on invasion of people's privacy.

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Tapes containing his private conversation with corporate lobbyist Niira Radia had been leaked to the media last year, following which Tata had moved the Supreme Court, seeking a probe on the leak, as well as, a stay on further publication of the same.

"There should be a law against invading people's privacy, unless it's for an investigative purpose," Tata said in an interview to the 'Wall Street Journal'. He told the daily that unchecked wiretapping and media willingness to publish such personal material pose grave dangers for India.

"We're moving into an era, if all the tabloids and all the magazines talk of hearing people maybe talking to their mistress or talking about their health, or issues of this nature, then one day we would soon find people's bodies in the trunks of cars you know, we're settling scores," Tata said in the interview.

Phone tapping, including the Tata-Radia conversation, is a part of the investigation launched by various government agencies into the alleged irregularities during the sale of 2G spectrum to telecom companies in 2008.