The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has 30 FIRs with police till date, for violations of the Aadhaar Act 2016, the ministry of electronics and information technology (MeITY) said in a reply to a question in the Lok Sabha. Members of Parliament, Doddaalahalli Kempegowda Suresh (Indian National Congress), Nalin Kumar Kateel (BJP), Elumalai Vellaigounder (AIADMK), and Kalikesh Narayan Singh Deo (BJD) asked questions about the Aadhaar linkages, transparency of the UIDAI, and security. Ministry's answer, however, did not giver details about the 30 FIRs which were filed. Note that under section 47 Aadhaar Act, only the UIDAI is allowed to file an FIR with the police in case data is a contravention of data which is used. This has been controversial as it denies citizens the right to seek remedy if there is any data leak or data compromise. However, the UIDAI has been challenging people who have been exposing vulnerabilities in the system. Last year, it filed FIRs and gone after a journalist for exposing flaws in Aadhaar enrolment, and (allegedly) against Sameer Kochhar who said Aadhaar can be hacked. They’ve also sent notices to CIS for their disclosure of Aadhaar leaks. Meanwhile, UIDAI has failed to protect Aadhaar data, failed to take action against government departments who have leaked Aadhaar data by the millions (read this), and indeed, several government departments and the UIDAI have violated provisions of the Aadhaar Act themselves (read this), by releasing user Aadhaar numbers online. The systemic risks of the Aadhaar being linked to almost every aspect of life came to…
