By Anivar Aravind, Independent Researcher

In India, on past one month there are many news reports on various #AadhaarLeaks from Aadhaar seeded Govt services. As of now combined number of Aadhaar numbers leaked will cross 200 million, considering various leaks from Employment Guarantee, minor /student scholarship portal leaks, Social assistance schemes, and various pension schemes.

I was closely following Attorney General of India’s arguments in the ongoing Supreme court petition questioning Aaadhaar -PAN Linkage. At one time Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi said “It is important to note there was no leak from us . It was from Jharkhand Govt.”

A-G: Refers to #AadhaarLeaks. Important to note there was no leak from us. It was from Jarkhand govt. No biometrics were leaked. — Prasanna S (@prasanna_s) May 2, 2017

Publishing Aadhaar Number is a Crime as per Aadhaar Act Rule 6

Publishing it is a crime, even if it is your own #Aadhaar number, as there is no exception provided in the law. pic.twitter.com/9KUhoItFHb — Pranesh Prakash (@pranesh) May 3, 2017

This is the time to talk about Aadhaar Numbers publicly posted by UIDAI itself. There are multiple files on UIDAI website displaying Aadhaar numbers violating citizen privacy and consent. Here are some of the images from just one PDF with gross privacy violations of most disadvantaged people including visually challenged people:

Image Source : UIDAI website , PDF Page 33 | Masking: Mine

Image Source : UIDAI website , PDF Page 34 | Masking: Mine

Image Source : UIDAI website , PDF Page 35 | Masking: Mine

Image Source : UIDAI website , PDF Page 38 | Masking: Mine

There are more photos with aadhaar numbers in the same file. I’ve verified these numbers using UIDAI’s verification service and all of them are valid numbers. The file seems to have been archived at-least 15 times in Internet Archive.

Just confirm the URL Once again. It is from UIDAI itself https://uidai.gov.in/images/aepds_16th_june_2014.pdf

Now this is what UIDAI CEO Dr ABP Pandey says

So Mr . Attorney General, who is violating the Aadhaar Act here?

You are distancing yourself from leaking databases of State Governments, Central Government Schemes and even the Prime Minister’s own Awas Yojana.

But what about UIDAI’s own leaking, sir ? If UIDAI itself is leaking data what protection citizen have? Remember, only UIDAI can file FIR against violation of Aadhaar Act.

Crossposted from here.