BY THE WIRE STAFF ON 07/01/2018 • 3 COMMENTS
The FIR reportedly states that the journalist and her sources “have unauthorisedly accessed the Aadhaar ecosystem in connivance of the criminal conspiracy”.
The UIDAI’s tactic of filing FIRs against journalists and concerned persons has now become a pattern. Credit: Wikimedia Commons
New Delhi: A first information report (FIR) has been registered against The Tribune newspaper and its journalist Rachna Khaira for a report that was published earlier this week on how demographic data associated with Aadhaar numbers was being sold by anonymous sellers over WhatsApp for as little as Rs 500.
According to a report in The Indian Express, a deputy director of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has registered an FIR, which also names Anil Kumar, Sunil Kumar and Raj (all of whom were contacted by the Tribune reporter as part of the story).
Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime Branch) Alok Kumar confirmed to Indian Express that an FIR had been lodged with the crime branch’s cyber cell “under IPC Sections 419 (punishment for cheating by impersonation), 420 (cheating), 468 (forgery) and 471 (using as genuine a forged document), as well Section 66 of the IT Act and Section 36/37 of the Aadhaar Act”.
B M Patnaik, who works with the UIDAI’s logistics and grievance redressal department, is referenced as a complainant in the FIR, with his complaint stating: “An input has been received through The Tribune dated January 3, 2018, that the ‘The Tribune purchased’ a service being offered by anonymous sellers over WhatsApp that provided unrestricted access to details for any of the more than 1 billion Aadhaar numbers created in India thus far.”
According to the Indian Express, the FIR notes how the reporter got in touch with the other persons named in the FIR and goes on to state: “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 various sections mentioned in the FIR)… Hence, an FIR needs to be filed at the cyber cell for the said violation.”
The Wire reached out to UIDAI and The Tribune’s editor-in-chief Harish Khare and will update this story if and when a response is received.
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