The High Court of Karnataka has directed the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) to furnish information and documents submitted for securing Aadhaar by 12 Bangladesh nationals, some of whom are already convicted in a gang-rape case. Among the 12, some are facing trial in human trafficking and illegal immigration cases before a trial court.
Key highlights
- Justice Krishna S. Dixit issued the directions to the UIDAI while allowing a petition filed by the National Investigation Agency (NIA).
- The NIA had approached the court as UIDAI had declined to provide the information and documents sought for, as Section 33 of the Aadhar (Targeted Delivery of Financial and Other Subsidies, Benefits and Services) Act, 2016 mandates that confidential information/authentication documents, which are prohibited from being revealed, can be disclosed in certain cases only by an order of the court not inferior to a judge of the High Court.
- While directing UIDAI to hand over all the documents and information, the court also directed the NIA not to use such details for any purpose alien to investigation of the offences and prosecution of the offenders.
- The court also pointed out that the Aadhar Act, 2016, only mandated the court to hear the UIDAI before granting permission to provide confidential details; and there was no such compulsion in the Act to hear the persons concerned whose information had been sought.
- The court said “Insisting upon consent of the persons whose information is sought for, can be metaphorically equated to mosquitoes insisting upon consent for combat against malaria,”
- All 12 Bangladeshi nationals are currently lodged in Bengaluru Central Prison, but they did not respond to the court’s notice.
- Ramamurthynagar police have registered a case against the accused under the provisions of the IPC, Foreigners Act and Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act, against the accused for allegedly trafficking Bangladeshi girls to India on the false promise of employment.
- These girls were initially sent to Kolkata where fake Aadhaar cards were generated and thereafter they were forced into prostitution in other parts of the country. Thereafter, the Home Ministry entrusted the case to the NIA, considering the gravity of the offences and also to their international and inter-state ramifications, in July 2021.
