Aadhaar data breach report: Editors Guild condemns FIR against journalist

January 07, 2018 19:05

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They asked the Modi government to intervene and "have the cases against the reporter withdrawn apart from conducting an impartial investigation into the matter."

The UIDAI said in a statement that its FIR "should not be viewed as UIDAI targeting the media or the whistle-blowers or "shooting the messenger.""

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