HC quashes Aadhaar impersonation case, rules Act's provisions not retrospective

The Calcutta High Court has quashed criminal proceedings against a man accused of Aadhaar-related impersonation, firmly ruling that the penal provisions of the Aadhaar Act, 2016, cannot be applied retrospectively.

- SOUMYADIP MULLICK

KOLKATA:

The court observed that in criminal law, it is the date of commission of the act—not its detection—that determines the applicability of penal statutes, reinforcing the Constitutional safeguard under Article 20(1).

The judgment was delivered by Justice Uday Kumar in a criminal case involving petitioner Dulal Kumbhakar, who had been accused of allowing his fingerprints to be used in 2014 to generate an Aadhaar number in the name of his brother.