HC asks scribe about rules of sting operations

The Delhi High Court today sought to know from a journalist the rules and guidelines they adhered to while conducting a sting operation.

Justice Mukta Gupta also wished to know whether a sting operation, which had shown that it was possible to obtain two separate Aadhaar enrolment numbers with the same set of biometrics, was carried out in discharge of his duty or had he done it on his own.

The court asked senior advocate Vikas Pahwa, appearing for the 24-year-old journalist, to produce on the next date of hearing the rules and regulations with regard to the sting operations being conducted by the media houses.
 

The concerned sting, conducted on March 18 this year, had shown that the journalist had applied for an Aadhaar enrolment number twice once on March 17 using fake demographic information, and the other on March 18, using his own biometrics. He did this under two different names.

Pahwa said the "entire episode was done by a sting operation, strictly adhering to the prescribed principles of sting operation and investigative journalism."

The court listed the matter for December 19 by when Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), a central government agency that manages the Aadhaar authentication programme, was asked to file its reply on the scribe's plea that his original Aadhaar card was seized pursuant to the lodging of an FIR on March 31.

The court also asked central government standing counsel Manish Mohan, who appeared for UIDAI, to provide the complete process by when does the system trace duplication of biometrics and the steps taken by them in the present case.

The journalist, who works in a news channel, has also sought quashing of the FIR, which was lodged on a complaint by the UIDAI that Aadhaar applications, with two names but with the same biometric information, were filed. He has also sought the quashing of the proceedings in the matter.

The court has already directed the police and others not to take any "coercive" action against the journalist.

In a complaint given by the UIDAI to the Delhi Crime Branch, it has been alleged that "a single person with the same parameters of biometric information has got himself enrolled under two different identities".

The FIR has been registered under the relevant sections of the Aadhaar Act and cheating by impersonation.