Biometric Data Collection, Aadhaar Number And Related Programs Is A Black Act
Public Statement By Concerned Citizens
10 August, 2015
Countercurrents.org
Countercurrents.org
Right to privacy is an inalienable birth right & fundamental right. Open war against sensitive personal information like biometric data through aadhaar and Human DNA Profiling Bill 2015 is condemnable
Photo Credit: India Today
Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), its Unique Identification (UID)/aadhaar number project and schemes related to them have no support in law. It is violative of right to privacy which is an inalienable birth right and fundamental right. The collection of biometric data is illegal and mandatory requirement for aadhaar in manifest contempt Supreme Court’s repeated orders during 23rd September, 2013 till 16th March, 2015. When confronted with such gross wrongful acts, adopting the posture of “offence is the best defence”, in a stark case of misrepresentation of relevant precedents, Attorney-General Mukul Rohatgi orally submitted in the biometric aadhaar case in the Supreme Court that right to privacy is not a fundamental right during the hearing of the aadhaar case that re-commenced recently on 21st July, 2015. This statement is quite disturbing ahead of the proposed introduction of Human DNA Profiling Bill 2015 in the monsoon session of Parliament underway.
Citizens’ opposition to UID/aadhaar has a historical context. It is linked to more than a century old world famous 'Satyagraha' of Mahatma Gandhi in order to oppose the identification scheme of the government in South Africa. On 22nd August, 1906, the South African government published a draft Asiatic Law Amendment Ordinance. The Ordinance required all Indians in the Transvaal region of South Africa, eight years and above, to report to the Registrar of Asiatics and obtain, upon the submission of a complete set of fingerprints, a certificate which would then have to be produced upon demand. The move proposed stiff penalties, including deportation, for Indians who failed to comply with the terms of the Ordinance. Knowing the impact of the Ordinance and effective criminalisation of the entire community, Mahatma Gandhi then decided to challenge it. Calling the Ordinance a 'Black Act' he mobilised around 3,000 Indians in Johannesburg who took an oath not to submit to a degrading and discriminatory piece of legislation. Biometric aadhaar case demonstrates how 'Those who forget history are condemned to repeat it'.
Biometric profiling is inherently dangerous because it tracks individuals based on their religious, behavioural and/or biological traits. History is replete with examples wherein such profiling has been used for genocide, holocaust and violence against all kinds of minorities.
The fact is that Hon’ble Supreme Court conclusively established privacy jurisprudence on 4th July 2011 by its judgment in the Ram Jethmalani and Others vs Union of India and Others case, the Black Money Case. Hon’ble Court held: “Right to privacy is an integral part of right to life. This is a cherished constitutional value and it is important that human beings be allowed domains of freedom that are free of public scrutiny unless they act in an unlawful manner….as constitutional adjudicators we always have to be mindful of preserving the sanctity of constitutional values, and hasty steps that derogate from fundamental rights, whether urged by governments or private citizens, howsoever well meaning they may be, have to be necessarily very carefully scrutinised.”