Jharkhand High Court orders UIDAI to disclose Aadhaar details to trace human trafficking victim

The Jharkhand High Court recently directed the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) to disclose the details of Aadhaar card of a human trafficking victim to the police in order to trace the victim [Kuldeo Sah @ Mithun Sah vs The State Of Jharkhand & Another]..Section 33(1) of Aadhaar Act of 2016 permits a High Court to order disclosure of information, including identity information or authentication records but only after providing an opportunity of hearing to UIDAI and the Aadhaar card holder.The Bench of Justice Sujit Narayan Prasad and Justice Pradeep Kumar Srivastava observed that the law cannot come in the way of substantive justice. It added that an opportunity of hearing cannot be provided to the Aadhaar card holder in the present case since he is the one who is missing.“Therefore, in such circumstances, the statutory provision does not mean that the same is to be considered in the adversity of the interest of the concerned victim and, here the concept of doing substantive justice is to be taken care of,” the Court observed in the order passed on February 24..The Court further said if the Aadhaar Card details are furnished to the investigating agency, there might be a chance of finding the victim, who has been missing since 2014.“For the purpose of doing substantive justice towards the parents, more particularly, the victim who is traceless for more than a decade, this Court is of the view that the power which is to be exercised by the High Court as provided under Section 33(1) of the Act, 2016 is required to be exercised,” it opined..The Court had on February 19, 2024 denied bail to the accused, mainly because the trafficked minor victims are yet to be traced. The matter was kept pending after the police said all their attempts to find the victims had failed and now an endeavour was being made to get details of the Aadhaar card of one of the victims.However, the UIDAI had said the details of the Aadhaar card can be supplied only under the direction of the High Court.The Court had then opined that the UIDAI can directly disclose the information under Section 33(2) of the Aadhaar Act which permits the competent authority to do so in the interest of national security.“The activities of traffickers are also said to be issue of national security since they are dealing with the future generation, i.e. the young children of the nation jeopardizing the national interest. There might be chances of involvement of such children in terrorist activities leading to threat upon the national security and by that, the Act will come under the fold of Section 15 of the U.A.(P) Act, 1967,” the Court had observed on February 11..However, the Court in the latest order said that process would be time consuming. Accordingly, the Court preferred to pass the order itself.Advocates Gautam Kumar, Abhinav Raj, Ashutosh Kumar Sinah represented the appellants.Advocates Lily Sahay, Nehala Sharmin and Ruby Pandey represented the prosecution. Deputy Solicitor General of India Prashant Pallav with advocate Shivani Jaluka represented the UIDAI.Advocates Pratyush Lala and Deepak Sahu represented other respondents..[Read Judgment]