Persons enabling foreign nationals to get fake Aadhaar, PAN cards must be prosecuted: Bombay High Court

The Bombay High Court has directed the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) to furnish before it within two weeks the documents submitted by an alleged foreign infiltrator in order to procure an Aadhaar card. [State of Maharashtra v. UIDAI & Ors]

A Bench of Justices AS Gadkari and Kamal Khata issued the directive on a petition filed by the Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS), Navi Mumbai.

The case stems from a March 2018 raid in Juigaon, Panvel, where five Bangladeshi nationals were arrested after illegally entering India. Investigators revealed that the accused procured PAN cards, Election ID cards and Aadhaar cards using bogus documents with help from local facilitators. 

While UIDAI complied with a trial court order for other co-accused, records regarding respondent Bakaar Hasan Shaikh remained undisclosed, prompting the ATS to invoke Section 33(1) of the Aadhaar Act.

The Bench allowed the petition and underlined the security threat posed by infiltration.

“Foreign Nationals infiltrating Indian border have penetrated deep inside our country. By procuring Pan Card, Election ID Card and Aadhar Card from the concerned Authorities by submitting bogus documents, they present themselves as Indian citizens. This is a matter of serious concern and needs to be investigated by the concerned Investigating Agency expeditiously,” the judges said. 

The judges highlighted the urgency of prosecuting domestic accomplices.

“The persons/co-accused who are helping such Foreign Nationals in infiltrating the Indian border and helping them in settling in our country by helping them further in procuring the Pan Card, Election ID Card and Aadhar Card must also be thoroughly interrogated and if their role is revealed in the said crime, they must be prosecuted for their illegal acts as per the provisions of law and the investigation must be taken to its logical conclusion,” the court recorded in its order. 

The observations follow similar orders passed on July 27 and August 10 where the Bench warned that fake Aadhaar cards create cascading vulnerabilities across identity, immigration, and security systems. 

In earlier cases involving Afghan and Bangladeshi infiltrators, the Court ordered joint inter-agency action, immediate deportations, document cancellations, and urged the Centre to amend the Aadhaar Act.

Additional public prosecutor PP Shinde appeared for State.

Advocate Supriya Kak appeared for UIDAI.

[Read order]