After the UIDAI filed an FIR naming the journalist of The Tribune for exposing Aadhaar chinks in Aadhaar security that could expose details of all Indian citizens, Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad has said that the “FIR is against unknown”.
The Law minister said the “government is fully committed to freedom of press as well as to maintaining security and sanctity of Aadhaar for India’s development”. I’ve suggested UIDAI to request Tribune and its journalists to give all assistance to police in investigation real offenders”.
Quoting the law minister's tweet, UIDAI tweeted:
An FIR was registered by deputy director of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) against The Tribune newspaper and its reporter, Rachna Khaira, for a report published earlier this week on how access to Aadhaar data was being sold by anonymous sellers over WhatsApp for just Rs 500.
Advertisement
The FIR also names Anil Kumar, Sunil Kumar and Raj, all of whom were mentioned in The Tribune report as people Khaira contacted in the course of her reporting.
The FIR was 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.
Under fire for filing the FIR, the UIDAI had said it respects free speech, including freedom of the press, and its police complaint should not be viewed as "shooting the messenger".
Advertisement
In a statement, it said that its act should not be viewed as one targeting the media or a whistleblower.
Justifying its stance, the UIDAI said criminal proceedings have been initiated as it was an act of unauthorised access.
Editor-in-Chief of The Tribune Harish Khare, in a statement, said, "We regret very much that the authorities have misconceived an honest journalistic enterprise and have proceeded to institute criminal proceedings against the whistleblower."
