Govt denies Aadhaar database breach, refuses to withdraw FIR against journalist

Responding to questions raised by Ravi Prakash Verma, a Samajwadi Party MP to the Rajya Sabha, the government on April 6 denied any incidence of Aadhaar database breach, Medianama reported.  

On January 3, the Chandigarh-based The Tribune’s Rachna Khaira had done an investigative story stating that details of more than 1 billion Aadhaar numbers could be accessed in 10 minutes for Rs 500. Following this, a UIDAI deputy director had filed a first information report against Khaira. 

In this context, Verma had posed five questions to the Minister of Electronics and Information Technology. This included “basis” for government’s claims that Khaira’s report was completely false as well as whether the government would withdraw the FIR against Khaira and The Tribune “in view of freedom of press and claim by Government without any proof.”

Responding to this, the government has denied any leakage of data from the UIDAI database. “There has been no leakage of Aadhaar data from UIDAI database,” Medianama reported the reply to be. To the additional questions, the reply was “Do not arise.” Meaning that the FIR against Khaira would not be withdrawn.