The Supreme Court on Friday stayed a Madras High Court order directing the chairman of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) and the Parappana Agrahara Prison Superintendent in Bengaluru to produce on record the original fingerprints of former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa from her Aadhaar card data and the convict register, respectively, for verification by December 8.
A Bench led by Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra issued notice on a special leave petition filed by A.K. Bose, an MLA in the ruling AIADMK party, against the suo motu decision of the High Court on November 24.
The petition argued that the High Court order, in a pending election petition filed by Dr. P. Saravanan, was an intrusion into the fundamental right to privacy of Ms. Jayalalithaa, who passed away in a Chennai hospital on December 5, 2016.
Mr. Saravanan was the DMK candidate for the November 2016 Thirupparankundram Assembly bypoll. He has challenged the election of Mr. Bose.
“Her death does not make any difference as the right to privacy is available to every citizen during his/ her life time and even after the death of that person,” Mr. Bose, represented by senior advocate V. Giri and B. Ragunath, contended before the apex court.
The petition submitted that the High Court could not have sought the fingerprints without the consent of Ms. Jayalalitha, had she been alive.
“Section 131 of Evidence Act completely bars any process of compelling production of any document or thing belonging to a third party. The personal details of a third party which will undoubtedly include the finger print could not be divulged by the authorities without consent of the person,” the petition argued.
The question before the High Court is whether Ms. Jayalalithaa could have attested her thumb impressions without signing and whether she was conscious to affix the thumb impression on the poll documents.
