UIDAI case against newspaper over report on Aadhaar breach
NEW DELHI: An FIR has been lodged against The Tribune newspaper and a journalist over a report on anonymous sellers allegedly selling Aadhaar numbers through Whatsapp, another newspaper’s report said.
The FIR, filed by Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) deputy director BM Patnaik, named reporter Rachna Khaira and three other people contacted for the article. They were identified as Anil Kumar, Sunil Kumar and Raj.
Joint commissioner of police (crime branch) Alok Kumar said an investigation has already been launched into the matter. The FIR was registered under sections 419 (punishment for cheating by impersonation), 420 (cheating), 468 (forgery) and 471 (using as genuine a forged document) of the IPC, besides section 66 of the IT Act and section 36/37 of the Aadhaar Act.
The Tribune report, dated January 3, had stated that it cost the reporter just ₹500 (and ten minutes) to get an “agent” to create a gateway and provide her with a
login ID and password. “Lo and behold, you could enter any Aadhaar number into the portal, and instantly get all the particulars that an individual may have submitted to the UIDAI, including name, address, postal code, photo, phone number and email,” it alleged.
The FIR accused The Tribune
of “purchasing” a service being offered by anonymous sellers to gain unrestricted access to details of over a billion Aadhaar numbers.
“The above-mentioned persons have unauthorisedly accessed the Aadhaar ecosystem in connivance of the criminal conspiracy… The act of the afore- said involved persons is in violation of (the various sections mentioned in the FIR)… Hence, an FIR needs to be filed at the cyber cell for the said violation,” it added.
The UIDAI had denied any data breach and went on to clarify that “a mere display of demographic information cannot be misused without biometrics”.
CONGRESS HITS OUT
The opposition Congress also condemned the lodging of the FIR on Sunday.
The party said it was the Narendra Modi government’s “arrogance of power” at its worst and their intention on privacy was thoroughly exposed.
“Intent and Intentions of Modi government on privacy were thoroughly exposed when it had proclaimed that no citizen can have an absolute right over his/ her body,” tweeted Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala.
“In Supreme Court, Modi government had accepted Aadhaar data leak! Now instead of investigating, an evasive Modiji shoots the messenger!” he tweeted again later.