Govind Swami vs State Of Rajasthan
2021 Latest Caselaw 18069 Raj

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

(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.

(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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