Politics of vendetta: Shatrughan Sinha on FIR against journalist for Aadhaar expose
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BJP leader Shatrughan Sinha has come down strongly in support of the journalist against whom a police complaint was filed by the Unique Identification Authority of India for an investigative report that revealed that an anonymous Whatsapp group was selling details of Aadhaar data available with UIDAI compromising the details of more than one billion Aadhaar cards.
The actor-politician, who has been critical of the government over a host of issues, called the FIR "politics of vendetta".
A journalist is hauled up for reporting alleged truth about malfunctioning & misuse of Aadhar. Are we living in a Banana Republic? What kind of "justice" is this? Is there only politics of vendetta? Even public is being victimised for coming out honestly for society & the nation.
— Shatrughan Sinha (@ShatruganSinha) January 8, 2018
Mr Sinha also congratulated the Editors' Guild of India for its strong response to the lodging of an FIR in connection with the incident.
I congratulate the Editors' Guild of India for strongly taking up this matter & going deep into this. Hope wish and pray that genuine authorities in the Govt. and the respected SC in particular will take notice & come out with swift corrective measures. Satyamevajayate! Jai Hind!
— Shatrughan Sinha (@ShatruganSinha) January 8, 2018
The WhatsApp group was accessed by the reporter of the Indian daily the Tribune.
The reporter joined the WhatsApp group and paid Rs 500 via Paytm. In return, the WhatsApp group provided him with an ID, Password as an access to details of any Aadhaar number.
UIDAI dismissed the report as false and called it a case of "misreporting".
The reporter has been booked under Section 419 (Punishment for cheating by impersonation), 420(Cheating), 468 (forgery) and 471 (Using forged document) of Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Section 66 of the Information Technology (IT) act and Section 36/37 of the Aadhaar act.
The Editors Guild of India condemned UIDAI`s action, saying it was designed to "browbeat a journalist."
"It is unfair, unjustified and a direct attack on the freedom of the press," the Guild said in a statement on Sunday.