No Privacy Shield for Forgery: Andhra Pradesh High Court Orders UIDAI to Reveal Aadhaar Data in Land Fraud Case Read more:

 No Privacy Shield for Forgery: Andhra Pradesh High Court Orders UIDAI to Reveal Aadhaar Data in Land Fraud Case

In a significant ruling that narrows the defense of privacy in criminal cases, the Andhra Pradesh High Court has declared that individuals accused of forgery

A division bench comprising Chief Justice Lisa Gill and Justice R Raghunandan Rao has directed the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) to hand over

“In the present case, a person who is alleged to have committed an offence of forgery for personal gain, cannot be permitted to get away

The Anatomy of the Land Fraud The case traces back to 2021, when an imposter allegedly used a fabricated Aadhaar card to impersonate the appellant

Once the deception was uncovered, a multi-front legal battle began: 

Criminal Proceedings: A criminal case was registered to investigate the identity theft and forgery. Civil

Civil Litigation: A civil suit was filed to challenge the validity of the fraudulent sale deeds.

Property Protection: The court issued an interim injunction restraining the respondents (arrayed as respondents 1 to 3) from interfering with the appellant’s peaceful possession of

Deed Cancellation: Taking cognizance of a complaint filed by the appellant’s son, the district registrar and inspector of registration offices in Visakhapatnam cancelled the disputed

To solidify the criminal case, the appellant sought the biometric and registration details of the fraudulent Aadhaar card from the UIDAI. However, this request was

The Clash Over the RTI Act and Privacy The UIDAI initially blocked the release of the biometric and card information by invoking Section 8(1)(j) of

The appellant’s legal challenge was first dismissed by a single-judge bench. The single judge ruled that under Section 33(1) of the Aadhaar Act, 2016, such

High Court Decides: Forgery Trumps Privacy Claims On appeal, 

On appeal, the division bench rejected the single judge’s strict interpretation. Representing the appellant, advocate G Jhansi successfully argued that the police investigation into the

The division bench agreed, clarifying that the Aadhaar Act does not place an absolute embargo on sharing registration details.

“As can be seen from the provisions of Section 33(1) of the Aadhaar Act, 2016, there is no absolute bar for release of such information,”

Furthermore, the court pointed out a logical flaw in the defense: because the forged Aadhaar card was issued in the victim’s own name, “the question

By ordering the UIDAI to hand over the permissible data to the investigating authorities within three weeks, the Andhra Pradesh High Court has set a.