Senior citizens are being harassed by various service providers in the name of Aadhaar, even when the Supreme Court has said that no agency could insist the citizens on producing Aadhaar.

Last month, when the Supreme Court extended the deadline for Aadhaar indefinitely, many, who were dithering over their decision to link/get the document, heaved a collective sigh of relief. Yet, nearly a month later, the relief has turned into a nightmare for many as Aadhaar continues to dictate their existence, making lives miserable.

A week-long investigation by Mail Today across Delhi-NCR has found that citizens, including seniors, are being harassed by various service providers, both private and public, in the name of Aadhaar, even when the Supreme Court had clearly stated in its March ruling that except for subsidies, no agency, either Centre or State, could insist the citizens on producing Aadhaar.

For instance, do you need Aadhaar to get a new/duplicate SIM card? Do senior citizens need to link their pension accounts to Aadhaar to withdraw money? The answer is no.

But the ground reality is one of confusion and ambiguity.

Seventy-three-year-old CPN Thakur, a retired doctor, from Muzaffarpur, Bihar, had to get a new SIM card for his wife's phone in the name of his neighbour as his wife's Aadhaar fingerprints could not be read by the machines, a problem which Thakur too experienced while trying to link his phone numbers to Aadhaar.

Neither was he aware that getting a new SIM card does not necessarily require Aadhaar. Thakur has now moved the Supreme Court saying that the machines are not able to read his Aadhaar fingerprints anymore.

"After I filed the petition, a few officials came from Patna to update my biometric information on Aadhaar. After five visits and two fingerprint machines, they were able to get one match," said Dr Thakur.

CL Roy, 70, a retired scientist from Indian Space Research Organisation, recuperating after a knee surgery in Ahmedabad was told by a mobile service provider to "take new connections on someone else's Aadhaar."

However, after a lot of requests, executives from the service provider visited his house and linked both his and his wife's number to Aadhaar.

"This is such a hassle. I don't understand why they did not think of these things before," said Roy.

Again, like Thakur, Roy wasn't informed that a new connection did not require an Aadhaar. He narrated the experience of a bedridden fellow scientist at the hands of a leading public sector bank.

"The bank officials warned that his pension might stop if didn't link his pension account to Aadhaar. How is a bedridden man supposed to do this?" asked Roy.

"Finally, the bank manager went to his house. It was a pain to see them trying to get his fingerprints and after several attempts, they managed to get it," recalled Roy. "It is scary."

According to a new study, our fingerprints do slightly change as time progresses. So how do you open an account in a bank which relies on biometrics when your fingerprints don't match?

Here is what the spokesperson of State Bank of India has to say, "You can open a basic account via an app called YONO with the Aadhaar number. Only those who visit a branch for additional benefits need to provide biometric data. True, not everyone is able to access an app. We are looking into the matter."

Sixty-six-year-old Ratna Mitra never thought she would ever feel so insecure financially after her husband died a few years ago. Her husband had invested wisely in shares and elsewhere. Everything was going well until February this year when she didn't receive her monthly dividends from the shares her husband had bought.

"I was in for a rude shock when I called up the bank. I was told that the bank refused to accept the dividends and they were sent back to the share companies, from where they had come," said Mitra.

The bank officials told her that she had not yet submitted her Aadhaar number, and without that, the banks would not accept any dividends from the companies.

Later, as she tried to sync her bank accounts with Aadhaar, she was told that her phone number wasn't linked with Aadhaar and that she would need to do that first.

"It was a nightmarish experience for a senior citizen like me," said Mitra.

I haven't received my ration for a few months

Sixty-eight-year-old Samiuddin sits in his modest house in Badarpur, helpless. Both his ration and pension are on hold, the reason being that his fingerprints and iris scan do not match the one on his Aadhaar card procured four years ago.

"It has been seven months since I got my pension," Samiuddin narrates the tale of horror.

Samiuddin claims that his pension is on hold as his fingerprints dont match.

"I go to the bank every day and they ask me to come back after one month. Sometimes they say there is something wrong with the phone number on my Aadhaar and sometimes they say it is the fingerprint that is causing the issue. I don't know what or who to believe," he says.

Samiuddin has visited both the pension office and his bank, but there has been no respite. To top it, he alleges that he is being denied ration as his fingerprints don't match.

"It has been a few months since I am able to get ration in my name. We survive because my wife also has a ration card. So do my kids. They keep telling me to update my biometrics," he says.

"I have gone to different Aadhaar centers multiple times. They just keep directing me to other offices," Samiuddin was at the UIDAI office of Pragati Maidan, trying his luck when we met him. The officers at the UIDAI headquarters had asked him to go to the Nehru Place center tomorrow.

"I don't think that will be of any use, he says. But do I have a choice?" he signs off.

From taunts to advice, be ready for all

If you think Aadhaar is a headache only for senior citizens, prepare to stand corrected. Samuel George, a 30-year-old resident of Kaushambi was denied a duplicate SIM by his neighbouring Vodafone mini store on grounds that he did not have an Aadhaar.

Though he had all other documents including voter ID, driving license and even his passport, the customer care executive at the store refused to budge.

"I was told that the store could not issue duplicate SIM without Aadhar and was told to go to the main store at Nirman Vihar," said George.

"The entire population of East-Delhi was there. The customer care executive sniggered at me when I told him I don't have an Aadhaar. I finally got my SIM after waiting in queue for nearly two hours and getting an unsolicited lecture from a Vodafone executive on the importance of Aadhaar and how it can make my life easy," said George.

"The message seems to be, get Aadhaar or be ready for harassment."

Public waiting in queue for Aadhaar registration at one of the enrolment centres in the Capital. There are over 25,000 centres across the country. (Photo: Qamar Sibtain)

A Vodafone spokesperson who did not want to be identified, issued an e-mail statement saying "Other forms of KYC (know your customer) documents to establish proof of identity and proof of residence can also be used to secure a new connection but the customer will/may need to re-verify it in future using ADHAAR in line with applicable laws and guidelines."

Many other service providers, too, are insisting on the primacy of Aadhaar.

Meenakshi Patel, an Airtel user too was hassled for not having an Aadhar when she visited one of its stores for a new SIM in Pandav Nagar.

"I needed a nano SIM. The customer care executive asked me to give my thumb impression thinking that I have Aadhar. When I told him I do not have one, his immediate question was, are you even an Indian if you do not have Aadhaar? I was shocked," recalled Patel.

"It was the most humiliating experience in my life. I had all other identity documents with me. Yet they chose to ignore it. It is unacceptable that my identity as an Indian hinge on just one document," she said.

Apologising for the behaviour of the customer care executive, an Airtel spokesperson who chose to be anonymous told Mail Today that as far as the company is concerned, we have made it clear that all the options are accepted. New/duplicate SIM cards can be taken through paper-based verification. The retailers should clarify that. All options are available to customers. Its just that Aadhar makes the process faster, the spokesperson said.