ME News Bureau: Mumbai: The Unique Identification Data Authority of India (UIDAI) has clarified its stand on lodging an FIR on Rachana Khair, The Tribune journalist, by releasing a statement. The FIR lodged by UIDAI mentions the journalist had exposed how an online racket was selling personal Aadhaar details of individuals for nominal amounts.
UIDAI’s complaint also names people who were involved in this online racket. However, its complaint was quickly condemned by the Editor's Guild of India.
The UIDAI clarified that its intent was not to bully the media in any way. It stated that the FIR was launched for unauthorized access, and not for exposing the breach, while rejecting the alleged data breach.
The UIDAI stated, "UIDAI respects free speech including the Freedom of Press and Media. However UIDAI's act of filing an FIR with full details should not be viewed as UIDAI targeting the media or the whistle-blowers or 'shooting the messengers.'"
Validating its argument, the UIDAI also said that it had recounted the complete chain of proceedings to the police in the FIR and the journalist’s name was mentioned in context.
Attacking the UIDAI for its complaint, Guild’s statement read, "It is clearly meant to browbeat a journalist whose investigation on the matter was of great public interest. It is unfair, unjustified and a direct attack on the freedom of the press."
The authority gave the instance of the Supreme Court's 2014 verdict in the Rajiv Prasad versus CBI case to state that a person's guilt or innocence is not proclaimed by the presence of their name in an FIR but only after a police investigation and a trial.
