VIJAYAWADA: The Andhra Pradesh High Court has ruled that the right to privacy cannot be used as a shield to evade the law in cases involving forgery and fraud.
The court clarified that section 33(1) of the Aadhaar Act does not impose a complete prohibition on sharing Aadhaar-related information and that such details may be disclosed under court orders with adequate safeguards.
The division bench, comprising Chief Justice Lisa Gill and Justice R. Raghunandan Rao, directed the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) to provide Aadhaar and biometric details of an accused person to the police in connection with an alleged land fraud case. The court set aside an earlier order of a single judge who had refused to direct disclosure of the information.
The case arose from a complaint filed by Sitarama Anjaneyulu of Saripalli village in Pendurthi mandal of Visakhapatnam district. He alleged that unidentified persons created a fake Aadhaar card in his name and used it to fraudulently register 16 acres of his land in favour of another individual through two sale deeds. Following his complaint, Pendurthi police registered a case and launched an investigation.
Anjaneyulu also approached a Visakhapatnam court, which granted an interim injunction in his favour. Subsequently, registration authorities cancelled the disputed sale deeds. During the investigation, the victim sought details of the fake Aadhaar card and related biometric information from UIDAI through the Right to Information Act. However, UIDAI rejected the request in January 2024.
