Was Mr Prasad wrong?

Obviously. Nobody raised this in direct response to his tweet, but it is another example of disingenuousness by the government relating to Aadhaar.

Of course, the Central Government tried to clarify that Aadhaar was not mandatory for getting a death certificate, since if an applicant doesn’t know the deceased’s Aadhaar number, they will be required to provide a certificate that the deceased person “does not possess Aadhaar number to the best of his/her knowledge”.

Note that this is an exception to the rule of providing the Aadhaar number and that this exception only applies where you declare that you don’t think the deceased had an Aadhaar number. So if they did, but you can’t find the number, you can’t claim the exception. Note also that if you give a false declaration (for eg where you know the person had Aadhaar but can’t find it), you’ll have committed a criminal offence.

What’s the legal basis?

Notification by Registrar General India, Ministry of Home Affairs, dated 4 August 2017 – press release available here.

Is there a way out?

The notification doesn’t apply in Jammu & Kashmir, Assam & Meghalaya. If you’re not from there, make sure you plug your ears and make “lalalalalalala” noises anytime anyone you might need to get a death certificate for starts to talk about Aadhaar. Or make for the hills anytime anyone you know dies.

Will that work?

Don’t count on it.