Aadhaar 'data breach': govt. committed to freedom of press, says Ravi Shankar Prasad

Amid criticism of action by the authorities on a newspaper report on alleged Aadhaar data breach, Law and Information Technology Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on Monday said the government was committed to freedom of the press and the FIR was filed against “unknown” entities.

“Government is fully committed to freedom of Press as well as to maintaining security and sanctity of Aadhaar for India’s development. FIR is against unknown,” Mr. Prasad said on Twitter.

The Delhi Police registered the FIR on a Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) official’s complaint following the newspaper report, naming the reporter behind the story, even as the daily said it will defend its freedom to undertake investigative journalism.

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Police said on Sunday that UIDAI deputy director B.M. Patnaik told them that an input was received from

The Tribune   that it had 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.

On January 5, Mr. Patnaik made the complaint and the FIR was registered the same day, the police said.

The Editors Guild Of India sought government intervention for withdrawal of the case and called for an “impartial” investigation into the matter.

Criticising the lodging of the FIR, the guild said it was “deeply concerned” over reports that the UIDAI deputy director had registered a complaint in which the reporter of The Tribune , Rachna Khaira, has been named.

Mr. Prasad said: “I’ve suggested UIDAI to request [The] Tribune & its journalist to give all assistance to police in investigating real offenders.”