New Delhi: The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) on Thursday informed the Delhi High Court that the core biometric information of the Aadhar cardholder collected by the authority under the Aadhaar Act shall not be shared with anyone for any reason whatsoever.
Reportedly, the UIDAI said that it does not collect biometric information based on technology, and procedure suitable for forensic purposes.
An affidavit filed by UIDAI in Delhi High Court stated that core biometric information has been defined in Section 2(J) of the Aadhaar Act to mean fingerprints, iris scan, or such other biological attributes of an individual as may be specified by Regulations. “Therefore, there is a clear prohibition under the law against sharing or using core biometrics for any reason whatsoever.”
The affidavit came as a reply to the court query in a robbery and murder case back in 2018, in which the prosecution sought certain biometric data collected at the site to be matched with the Aadhaar database.
The affidavit further stated that “Biometric information is unique to an individual and therefore is sensitive information and needs to be protected to thwart any possibility of misuse. As is evident from the above-mentioned provisions, sharing of biometric information or the use of biometric information for any purpose other than the generation of the Aadhaar number and authentication under the Aadhaar Act is impermissible.”
The affidavit also said that “1:N search of chance fingerprints and photographs with no Aadhaar number and no demographic details as requested by the Petitioner is not only beyond the mandate and scope of the UIDAI but is also technologically unfeasible,”
(With Agency Inputs)