FIR against Tribune, journalist over Aadhaar report; cops launch probe
NEWDELHI: The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has registered an FIR against The Tribune newspaper and its reporter Rachna Khaira, following her news report claiming that Aadhaar details were being made available on payment of ₹500 by anonymous sellers.
Delhi Police spokesperson Madhur Verma confirmed that an FIR has been registered and an investigation is launched.
In response to the FIR registered, reporter Khaira said that she stands by her report and is ready to extend all necessary cooperation to the government of India in investigating the fiasco created by the UIDAI officials in preserving the sensitive data of the Indian citizens. “It is a matter of honour for me to have the editors guild stand by me and backing me in this war against the ineptitude UIDAI,” she said.
The Editors Guild of India on Sunday had termed the FIR as “unfair, unjustified and a direct attack on the freedom of the press.”
Verma said that on January 5, UIDAI lodged a complaint that an input has been received through the newspaper Tribune regarding violation of the Grievance Redressal System of UIDAI . “Accordingly, the complaint given by UIDAI has been converted into an FIR which is ‘open ended’. The complaint given by UIDAI has mentioned the name of the reporter only who was purportedly given access. Investigation has been initiated with the present focus on tracing and booking the person who has shared the password,” said Verma.
The case has been registered under section 36/37 of the Aadhaar Act, sections 419 (punishment for cheating by impersonation), 420 (cheating), 468 (forgery) and 471 (using as genuine a forged document) of the Indian Penal Code, and section 66 of the IT Act.
The Tribune report, dated January 3, is titled ‘Rs 500, 10 minutes, and you have access to billion Aadhaar details’.
The report stated: “It took just ₹500, paid through Paytm, and 10 minutes in which an ‘agent’ of the group running the racket created a ‘gateway’ for this correspondent and gave a login ID and password. Lo and behold, you could enter any Aadhaar number in the portal, and instantly get all particulars that an individual may have submitted to the UIDAI (Unique Identification Authority of India), i ncluding name, address, postal code (PIN), photo, phone number and email.”
After the report appeared, the UIDAI had in a statement said that there “has not been any Aadhaar data breach”.
“The Aadhaar data, including biometric information, is safe and secure,” it had said, adding, “There has not been any data breach of the biometric database.”