HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE FOR RAJASTHAN JODHPUR D.B. Habeas Corpus Petition No. 21/2021 Govind Swami
----Petitioner Versus State Of Rajasthan & Ors.
----Respondent For Petitioner(s) : None present For Respondent(s) : Mr. Anil Joshi, GA-cum-AAG (Incharge) Mr. Navneet Singh Birkh on behalf of Mr. Mukesh Rajpurohit, ASG Mr. Govind Singh Charan, C.I.
SHO, P.S. Nayashehar, Bikaner HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE SANDEEP MEHTA HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE SAMEER JAIN Order 01/12/2021 The instant habeas corpus petition has been filed by the petitioner Govind Swami with an allegation that his minor sister Mst. 'P' (hereinafter referred to as 'the corpus/detenue') was kidnapped on 26.10.2020 and since then, she is not traceable. The habeas corpus petition was filed way back in the month of January, 2021. Notices were issued to the respondents and the police officials concerned were directed to make efforts for tracing out the corpus and the suspect. Till date, repeated factual reports have been filed by the learned AAG appearing for the police officials but the fact remains that till date, no clues have been received regarding the whereabouts of the missing girl. On 20.09.2021, learned Additional Advocate General submitted that efforts being made to trace out the missing girl met a road-block (Downloaded on 01/12/2021 at 09:15:57 PM) (2 of 3) [HC-21/2021] because the UIDAI refused to release the Aadhaar Card details of the suspect and the corpus to the I.O. We therefore directed the UIDAI to share these details with the investigating officer.
Shri Navneet Singh Birkh appeared for Shri Mukesh Rajpurohit, learned ASG and urged that in view of the amendment brought around in Section 33 of the Aadhaar (Targeted Delivery of Financial and Other Subsidies, Benefits and Services) Act, 2016, the details of Aadhaar Card cannot be shared without providing opportunity of hearing to the authority and the concerned Aadhaar number holder. He submits that before issuing any direction to the UIDAI, the Aadhaar Card holder has to be mandatorily heard and thus, the order dated 20.09.2021 may be recalled. Shri Birkh also placed reliance on the judgment rendered by Hon'ble the Supreme Court in the case of Justice K.S. Puttaswamy (Retd.) & Anr. vs. Union of India & Ors. (Writ Petition (Civil) No.494/2012) decided on 24.08.2017, and urged that no information can be disclosed without hearing the person in respect of whom the disclosure of information has been sought.
We have thoughtfully considered the submissions advanced by Shri Birkh and, have gone through the relevant statutory provisions. We have also given our respectful consideration to the observations made by Hon'ble the Supreme Court in the case of Justice K.S. Puttaswamy (supra).
Suffice it to say that in the present case, the controversy pertains to the disappearance of the corpus (whose Aadhar details are being sought) as she is missing since October, 2020. The Aadhaar details are being sought for by the police officials so that efforts can be made to trace the corpus. For all we know that the victim might have been liquidated by now.
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(3 of 3) [HC-21/2021] As the suspect and the victim are reported to be missing and as the victim is a minor girl, there is an imminent danger to her life and limb and thus, by virtue of exercising powers under Article 21 of the Constitution of India and the extraordinary writ jurisdiction conferred upon this Court by Article 226 of the Constitution of India, we are of the view that the possibility of providing an opportunity of hearing to the Aadhaar Card holder is virtually impossible as the suspect and the corpus are missing for more than last one year. Moreover, we are of the firm view that the confidentiality of the Aadhaar details provided to the investigating agency shall definitely be maintained because the information would be provided to the I.O. who would be under an obligation to use the same only for the purposes of getting further leads to trace out the corpus.
Consequently, we hereby direct the UIDAI to provide the relevant police officials to the extent prescribed by the Aadhaar (Targeted Delivery of Financial and Other Subsidies, Benefits and Services) Act, within a period of 15 days from today so that the efforts to trace out the corpus can be intensified.
List on 07.01.2022.
(SAMEER JAIN),J (SANDEEP MEHTA),J
25-Tikam/-
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