Police want to identify suspect via Aadhaar, Delhi HC seeks UIDAI report

While stating that the UIDAI cannot supply the biometric information to the police, Justice Mukta Gupta asked whether it could use the evidence available with the investigating agency to identify the suspect.

“Of course you will not supply it. You will not be sharing it. They will give you the biometric, fingerprints. If it tallies, you will tell that it will tally with this person. You will not share with them (the biometric information), certainly not,” said the court.

The court asked the UIDAI to file a status report within four weeks on whether the Aadhaar Act permits it to share this information with an investigating agency. It will hear the case on April 28.

Referring to Section 29 of the Act, the counsel for the UIDAI said there is “complete restriction” on sharing the biometric information with any agency or person. She said the issue is pending before a division bench of the High Court, as well as the Supreme Court.

UIDAI also told the court that there is a “technology issue”. “There is no 1:n sharing. Under the technology of Aadhaar card, it has to be done on a 1:1 basis. Only if it matches with that particulars,” advocate Nidhi Raman submitted. She said the Supreme Court has already stayed an earlier order of the Bombay High Court in view of the ban under the Act.

Raman submitted that she would like to put on record that there is a clear restriction under Section 29 on “sharing or matching any biometric information”. She said a person cannot even ask for his/ her own data.

The police approached the court under Section 33 (1) of the Act, according to which a High Court judge can order disclosure of information on identity in certain cases. The law also does not prohibit disclosure of such information in the interest of national security.

The case dates back to June 12, 2018, when a jeweller, Hemant Kumar Kaushik, was murdered by robbers at his shop in Adarsh Nagar. While two suspects robbed the shop, a third was waiting on a stolen motorcycle. When Kaushik tried to grab one of them, he was shot. The police recovered 14 chance prints from the spot and footage of one of the suspects from CCTV cameras in the area.

“The chance prints taken from the spot were sent to the fingerprint bureau but did not match with the data bank there. No match was found for the suspect’s photographs when matched with the facial recognition system. An award of Rs 25,000 was announced to get some clues, but, despite best efforts, the accused persons were not traceable,” the police said in its petition.

Last year, the victim’s father, Vinod Kumar, approached the court against the delay in investigation. His petition is listed for hearing on April 18.

Earlier, in a press statement on June 22, 2016, UIDAI had said that “the use of or access to Aadhaar biometric data for criminal investigation is not permissible under Section 29 of the Aadhaar Act, 2016”.