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Synopsis

Since the inception of the judicial system, an individual has always been referred to as "he/his". It is the first time in legal history that legislation has used "She/her" while referring to an individual irrespective of their gender.

A courageous attempt has been made in the philosophy of women empowerment by using the word she/her in the Digital Personal Data Protection Bill.

Minister of Electronics & Information Technology, Ashwini Vaishnaw while inviting feedback on the Draft Digital Personal Data Protection Bill, 2022 said, "We have attempted in the philosophy of women's empowerment that Prime Minister Narendra Modi Ji's government works to use the words she and her in the entire bill, instead of he, him and his. So this is an innovative thing which has been attempted in billions of times."

It may be noted that it is the first time that such a positive step has been taken in the judicial system. Prior to this, all the Acts, rules, and bills, were used to mention the word he/his/him while referring to an individual irrespective of gender.

The Central Government has now produced a new draft Bill in response to the Digital Personal Data Protection Bill's withdrawal from the lower house of the Parliament and is soliciting public feedback.

The draft says, "The purpose of this Act is to provide for the processing of digital personal data in a manner that recognizes both the right of individuals to protect their personal data and the need to process personal data for lawful purposes and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto."