Aadhaar Data and Privacy Protections
The Aadhaar Act limits access to biometric data (fingerprints, iris scans) to protect privacy.
Core biometric information can only be disclosed through a High Court order under Section 33(1).
The challenge is balancing privacy with the right to dignity, especially when biometric data is essential for identifying deceased individuals.
Challenges in Identifying Unidentified Deceased
Many deceased individuals are from disadvantaged backgrounds—homeless, migrants, or accident victims—without identification or family connections, leading to unreported missing persons.
Police collect evidence, fingerprints, and check against missing person records, but databases are often limited to criminal records, slowing down identification.
Even in decomposed bodies, fingerprints can help identify the deceased, making fingerprint data crucial in such investigations.
Need for Re-evaluating Biometric Restrictions
Allowing police access to Aadhaar data (with FIR) could expedite identifying deceased persons and help families with closure.
Instead of requiring a High Court order, a jurisdictional magistrate could authorize biometric data access, reducing judicial burden and respecting privacy.
Unlocking Aadhaar data for deceased identification aligns with the constitutional right to dignity and life, especially for marginalized individuals lacking access to justice.
In the United States, law enforcement agencies can access advanced identification tools through the Deceased Persons Identification (DPI) Services, indicating the potential benefits of reconsidering India’s restrictions.
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