Editors Guild condemns UIDAI for having journalist booked over Aadhaar data breach story

The Editors Guild said the UIDAI should have ordered an internal investigation in response to the report, instead of punishing the journalist.

IndiaToday.in  | Edited by Ganesh Kumar Radha Udayakumar
New Delhi, January 7, 2018 | UPDATED 17:21 IST
Eye scanning for the Unique Identification database system (Photo for representation: Reuters)A woman goes through the process of eye scanning for the Unique Identification database system in the outskirts of Ahmedabad in 2013. (Photo for representation: Reuters)

Highlights

  • 1
    Deeply concerned over reports of FIR against reporter: Editors Guild
  • 2
    Modi govt should have cases withdrawn: Editors Guild
  • 3
    Govt should conduct an impartial investigation: Editors Guild

The Editors Guild of India has condemned the the Unique Identification Authority of India's decision to have a reporter booked over a story on how anonymous users accessed Aadhaar details and sold them for a fee.

Rachna Khaira, a reporter from The Tribune, was booked under sections 419 (punishment for cheating by impersonation), 420 (cheating), 468 (forgery) and 471 (using forged document) of the Indian Penal Code, section 66 of the IT Act, and section 36/37 of the Aadhaar Act.  

The move was "unfair, unjustified and a direct attack on the freedom of the press," the Editors Guild said in a press release.

"Instead of penalising the reporter, UIDAI should have ordered a thorough internal investigation into the alleged breach and made its findings public," the Guild's president, general secretary and treasurer said in their statement.

They asked the Modi government to intervene and "have the cases against the reporter withdrawn apart from conducting an impartial investigation into the matter."

Here is their full statement.

The Editors Guild of India is deeply concerned over reports that the Deputy Director of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) had registered an FIR against Rachna Khaira, a reporter of The Tribune, in the Crime Branch of the Delhi Police. The reporter has been booked under IPC sections 419 (punishment for cheating under impersonation), 420 (cheating), 468 (forgery), 471 (using a forged document) and also under sections of the IT Act and the Aadhar Act.

The Tribune report of January 3 by Khaira had exposed how, for a small sum of money made to a payment bank, an agent of a private group would allegedly create a gateway to access details contained in an individual's Aadhar card. Using a false identity, Khaira had posed as an interested party and claimed in her report that she had easy access to details that individuals had listed in their Aadhar cards. The UIDAI in a statement had subsequently denied that any data breach was possible.

The Guild condemns UIDAI's action to have the Tribune reporter booked by the police as it is clearly meant to browbeat a journalist whose investigation on the matter was of great public interest. It is unfair, unjustified and a direct attack on the freedom of the press. Instead of penalising the reporter, UIDAI should have ordered a thorough internal investigation into the alleged breach and made its findings public. The Guild demands that the concerned Union Ministry intervene and have the cases against the reporter withdrawn apart from conducting an impartial investigation into the matter.

Signed

Raj Chengappa, President

Prakash Dubey, General Secretary

Kalyani Shankar, Treasurer

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