Randeep Surjewala slams BJP govt over FIR against The Tribune reporter, says it is 'shooting the messenger'

Congress leader Randeep Surjewala on Sunday reacted to the FIR against The Tribune reporter who wrote an article on Aadhaar details being easily accessible. Surjewala called the police action ‘arrogance of power’ at its worst.After a 3 January news report by The Tribune claimed a breach in Aadhaar data, the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has registered an FIR against the news daily and journalist Rachna Khaira, reports said. Surjewala also said the ‘intent’and ‘intentions’ of the Modi government on privacy were thoroughly exposed when it had proclaimed that ’no citizen can have an absolute right over his/her body’.

Shoot the ‘messenger’,
Ignore the ‘message’!
This typifies the ‘culture’ & ‘character’ of BJP Govt.

FIR against @thetribunechd reporter is ‘arrogance of power’ at its worst.

Every Indian must condemn this mindless act of Modi Govt & @UIDAI https://t.co/To88cCbBbO

— Randeep Singh Surjewala (@rssurjewala) January 7, 2018

The Tribune report had said that it took just Rs 500 and 10 minutes for the newspaper to get access to each detail of an individual submitted to the UIDAI through an “agent”. The details included name, address, postal code (PIN), photo, phone number and email. As Asheeta Regidi stated   in a _Firstpost_ article , about one billion Aadhaar holders’ details can be accessed this way. The report also said that a payment of Rs 300 allowed printing of an Aadhaar card, using just the holder’s number.