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They asked the Modi government to intervene and "have the cases against the reporter withdrawn apart from conducting an impartial investigation into the matter."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 Broadcast Editors Association (BEA), too, condemned the FIR, and demanded an immediate withdrawal of the police case against Khaira.
"Such FIRs against journalists exposing systemic flaws is a spiteful kick in the teeth of Indian democracy and the right to free speech and expression," the BEA said.
"I think I have earned this FIR. I am happy that at least the UIDAI has taken some action on my report and I really hope that along with the FIR, the Government of India will see what all breaches were there and take appropriate action," Rachna Khaira, Reporter from The Tribune told a television channel.
Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala slammed the Modi government over the FIR.
Earlier Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) Deputy Director B M Patnaik told the police that an input was received from The Tribune that it purchased a service being offered by anonymous sellers over WhatsApp that provided unrestricted access to details of any of the Aadhaar numbers created in India, the police said today.
On January 5, a complaint was received from Patnaik and the FIR was registered the same day, they said.The police was informed by the UIDAI official that the correspondent of The Tribune, posing as a buyer, had purchased the details.
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