<p class="title rtejustify">Justice D Y Chandrachud, a Supreme Court judge, on Wednesday held that Aadhaar reduced the individual's multiple identities to a 12-digit number, in violation of constitutional provisions.</p>.<p class="bodytext rtejustify">He said when Aadhaar is seeded into every database, it becomes a bridge across discreet data silos, allowing anyone with access to this information to reconstruct a profile of an individual’s life.</p>.<p class="bodytext rtejustify">“This is contrary to the right to privacy and poses severe threats due to potential surveillance,” he held in a dissenting view on the validity of Aadhaar programme and the Act.</p>.<p class="bodytext rtejustify">He said one right cannot be taken away at the behest of the other.</p>.<p class="bodytext rtejustify">“The state has failed to satisfy this court that the targeted delivery of subsidies which animate the right to life entails a necessary sacrifice of the right to individual autonomy, data protection and dignity when both these rights are protected by the Constitution,” he said.</p>.<p class="bodytext rtejustify">Justice Chandrachud held the Aadhaar Act, the rules and regulations framed under it, and the framework prior to its enactment as unconstitutional.</p>.<p class="bodytext rtejustify">“Identity is necessarily a plural concept. The Constitution also recognizes a multitude of identities through the plethora of rights that it safeguards. The technology deployed in the Aadhaar scheme reduces different constitutional identities into a single identity of a 12-digit number and infringes the right of an individual to identify herself/himself through a chosen means,” he said.</p>
<p class="title rtejustify">Justice D Y Chandrachud, a Supreme Court judge, on Wednesday held that Aadhaar reduced the individual's multiple identities to a 12-digit number, in violation of constitutional provisions.</p>.<p class="bodytext rtejustify">He said when Aadhaar is seeded into every database, it becomes a bridge across discreet data silos, allowing anyone with access to this information to reconstruct a profile of an individual’s life.</p>.<p class="bodytext rtejustify">“This is contrary to the right to privacy and poses severe threats due to potential surveillance,” he held in a dissenting view on the validity of Aadhaar programme and the Act.</p>.<p class="bodytext rtejustify">He said one right cannot be taken away at the behest of the other.</p>.<p class="bodytext rtejustify">“The state has failed to satisfy this court that the targeted delivery of subsidies which animate the right to life entails a necessary sacrifice of the right to individual autonomy, data protection and dignity when both these rights are protected by the Constitution,” he said.</p>.<p class="bodytext rtejustify">Justice Chandrachud held the Aadhaar Act, the rules and regulations framed under it, and the framework prior to its enactment as unconstitutional.</p>.<p class="bodytext rtejustify">“Identity is necessarily a plural concept. The Constitution also recognizes a multitude of identities through the plethora of rights that it safeguards. The technology deployed in the Aadhaar scheme reduces different constitutional identities into a single identity of a 12-digit number and infringes the right of an individual to identify herself/himself through a chosen means,” he said.</p>
