THE DIGITAL PERSONA IN PERIL: ANALYZING THE DECRIMINALIZATION PARADOX IN INDIA’S BIOMETRIC DATA LAWS
AUTHOR – ARCHI ARYA* & DR.MUDRA SINGH**
* LLM. (CRIMINAL LAW), AMITY LAW SCHOOL, AMITY UNIVERSITY UTTAR PRADESH, LUCKNOW CAMPUS
** ASSISTANT PROFESSOR AR AMITY LAW SCHOOL, AMITY UNIVERSITY UTTAR PRADESH, LUCKNOW CAMPUS
BEST CITATION – ARCHI ARYA & DR.MUDRA SINGH, THE DIGITAL PERSONA IN PERIL: ANALYZING THE DECRIMINALIZATION PARADOX IN INDIA’S BIOMETRIC DATA LAWS, INDIAN JOURNAL OF LEGAL REVIEW (IJLR), 6 (1) OF 2026, PG. 653-659, APIS – 3920 – 0001 & ISSN – 2583-2344.
ABSTRACT
The integration of biometric authentication into India’s governance infrastructure has fundamentally altered the relationship between the citizen and the State, creating a “digital persona” susceptible to surveillance and commercial exploitation. This research paper provides a doctrinal analysis of the evolving legal architecture governing biometric data in the “post-Puttaswamy” era, where the Supreme Court’s recognition of the fundamental right to privacy serves as the normative baseline for data protection.
The study examines the fragmented statutory landscape, juxtaposing the rigorous criminal penalties of the Aadhaar Act, 2016, and the Information Technology Act, 2000, against the nascent civil liability regime introduced by the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 (DPDP Act). It traces the jurisprudential shift from the “spatial” privacy of early case law to the “informational privacy” established in Justice K.S. Puttaswamy v. Union of India (2017), which mandated a tripartite test of legality, necessity, and proportionality for state intrusion.
Furthermore, the paper evaluates the “decriminalization paradox” emerging from the DPDP Act, which replaces imprisonment with monetary penalties, potentially weakening the deterrence framework for individual data breaches. By mapping these statutes against surveillance risks, the research concludes that while India has transitioned toward a consent-centric regime, significant lacunae remain regarding the regulation of state surveillance and the classification of biometric data thefnder the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023.
Keywords: Biometric Data, Right to Privacy, Puttaswamy, Aadhaar Act, DPDP Act 2023, Data Surveillance.