Days after an investigative report in The Tribune revealed a racket via which a journalist was able to gain access to the Aadhaar database of a billion Indians for just Rs 500, an FIR has now been filed against the daily as well as its reporter Rachna Khaira by a deputy director of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI).
The UIDAI released a statement saying that it takes every criminal violation seriously, and “unauthorised access” by The Tribune and its journalist is what invited the criminal proceedings that have been initiated against them. It also said it respects freedom of speech and the media, and that its FIR shouldn’t be viewed as “shooting the messenger”.
According to an Indian Express report, the FIR also includes the names of Anil Kumar, Sunil Kumar and Raj – people who Khaira said she contacted for her report.
An investigation has been launched after the FIR was filed under Sections 419 (punishment for cheating by impersonation), 420 (cheating), 468 (forgery) and 471 (using as genuine a forged document) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). Section 66 of the IT Act and Section 36/37 of the Aadhaar Act have also been invoked, Indian Express further reported.
The complainant in the case is BM Patnaik, working in the UIDAI's logistics and grievance redressal department.
The above-mentioned persons have unauthorisedly accessed the Aadhaar ecosystem in connivance of the criminal conspiracy... The act of the aforesaid involved persons is in violation of (the aforementioned sections)... Hence, an FIR needs to be filed at the cyber cell for the said violation.FIR
The report by The Tribune journalist Rachna Khaira says that after paying Rs 500 via Paytm to an ‘agent’, the group running the racket created a gateway for her within 10 minutes. Rachna then got a login ID and password for the Aadhaar portal which is only supposed to be accessed by admins.
After entering the portal, the correspondent was able to access all details of any individual just by entering their Aadhaar number. The details that could be accessed included name, address, postal code (PIN), photo, phone number and email of the Aadhaar card holder.
Notably, on Saturday, 6 December, the Chandigarh regional office of UIDAI – in a letter written to the editor-in-chief of The Tribune – sought certain details pertaining to the report.
It enquired whether it "was at all possible for your correspondent to view or obtain Fingerprints and Iris scan of any person through the aforesaid access to UIDAI portal". It went on to ask "how many Aadhaar numbers did the correspondent actually enter through the said login user ID and password and whom did those Aadhaar numbers belong to".
It asked the daily to provide an answer to these queries by 8 January, "failing which it will be presumed that there was no access to any Fingerprints and/or Iris scan".
The UIDAI had earlier denied The Tribune report after it came it out.
“There has not been any data breach and that the data is fully safe and secure,” the board said while calling The Tribune story a "case of misreporting”.
The Aadhaar data including biometric information is fully safe and secure. UIDAI maintains complete log and traceability of the facility and any misuse can be traced and appropriate action taken. Legal action including lodging of FIR against the persons involved in the present case being done.UIDAI statement
Rationale for Filing an FIR Questioned on Twitter
Prominent journalists and politicians lashed out at the authorities’ decision to file an FIR against the daily and its reporter.
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