Ratan Tata likely to lose in every scenario

Ratan Tata may have approached the Supreme Court for securing his privacy in the backdrop of the leak of Radia tapes but he may end up like a tragic hero in William Shakespeare’s plays.

With the judgment in his case likely to set out the ambit and scope of the right to privacy, his privacy will be violated every time his case is cited or relied upon as a precedent in the future. More so, when some of the conversations to which he has objections have already reached the public domain.

Every time his case is cited as a precedent, the taped conversations published in newspapers, magazines, web portals and those finding a place in the judgment itself are likely to be read out or recalled. This reminds one of a statement by Brutus — How many times shall Caesar bleed in sport? — that Julius Caesar would be killed every time a play was enacted on his tragical story.

At the same time, a judgment in Ratan Tata’s favour will surely go a long way in protecting the coveted right of similarly placed people in the future.

With some of the Radia- Tata conversations having already been published and there being no bar on further publication at the moment, Tata seems to have already lost his case for all practical purposes. Tata has to battle another anomaly associated with such a petition — he would have to point out during the hearings as to which conversations, according to him, were private, an exercise that can hardly be deemed pleasurable.

All this, however, should not make one underestimate the relevance the case holds for the future.