World's Largest Digital ID Operator Faces Suit for Data Leaks

  • Delhi Court agrees to hear plea seeking damages for data leaks
  • Petition alleges recklessness, negligence by Aadhaar operator

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Photographer: Andrey Rudakov/Bloomberg
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An Indian high court has agreed to hear a plea seeking damages from the operator of world’s largest biometric database for alleged failure to adopt adequate security measures that led to data leaks.

A two-judge bench headed by Justice S. Ravindra Bhat of Delhi High Court has asked the Unique Identification Authority of India, which is providing digital ID to over a billion Indians based on their biometrics, to submit a written response to the petition filed by a law professor. The body has six weeks to reply and the court will hear the case next on November 19.