Punjab and Haryana High Court issues Aadhaar integration directives to curb impersonation in bail matters

Saurabh Malik 

Chandigarh, May 27

Citing the adage ‘bad money keeps good money out of circulation’ to demonstrate the displacement of genuine sureties by professionals in bail matters, the Punjab and Haryana High Court has issued nine commandments for seamless Aadhaar integration to curb the menace of impersonation and streamline the procedure.

Justice Pankaj Jain, to begin with, directed the secretaries of e-governance departments of Haryana, Punjab and Chandigarh to submit appropriate application to the secretary, Ministry of Electronics and IT, for Aadhaar authentication services in all court premises within 30 days. The ministry, in turn, was directed to consider favourably the applications before providing necessary equipment to the courts with the State and Central government contribution.

Justice Jain added the entire system, including software and hardware, was required to be made operational within four months. The National Informatics Centre was directed to provide the infrastructure for biometric verification of Aadhaar cards on the court premises with the technical assistance of UIDAI.

Justice Jain also made it clear that the courts while accepting surety would insist on complete details and identity document of the surety, including Aadhaar card, once the infrastructure was in place. The surety’s consent would be obtained for Aadhaar verification.

The magistrates would verify the Aadhaar card of the accused in the case of personal bond, and of sureties as well in the case of surety bonds. For first-time accused facing less than seven years’ imprisonment under the IPC, the courts would adhere to Supreme Court guidelines, not insisting on sureties if specified parameters were met on inquiry/Aadhaar verification.

The surety module, integrating Aadhaar and property details tendered as surety, would be fully implemented and utilised optimally. “Whenever a person is to stand as surety, the same shall be cross-checked with the database…,” Justice Jain asserted

The register of sureties would be periodically inspected by principal district judges and chief judicial magistrates. Necessary circulars and rules were directed to be issued by the high court Registrar-General to all courts in Punjab, Haryana, and Chandigarh.

Justice Jain asserted professional sureties had become the norm as genuine ones were wary to encumber their property due to prolonged trials. “Delay in trials is leading to a situation where genuine surety is being pushed out by professional surety…. The other reason for mushrooming of professional sureties is the practice being adopted by the criminal courts of insisting upon the sureties and not releasing accused on personal bonds,” Justice Jain asserted.

The Bench asserted some of the accused in the bunch of petitions before it were facing allegation of faking Aadhaar cards. Describing the menace as widespread, Justice Jain added verification of Aadhaar cards/Aadhaar numbers was required to be seamless.