PRIVACY AND BIOMETRIC ENABLED NATIONAL ID CARD: A BRIEF COMPARATIVE CASE STUDY OF INDIA AND KENYA

AUTHOR – ASHUTOSH PRAKASH SHARMA, INDEPENDENT LEGAL RESEARCHER AND WRITER BASED IN AGRA, INDIA

BEST CITATION – ASHUTOSH PRAKASH SHARMA, PRIVACY AND BIOMETRIC ENABLED NATIONAL ID CARD: A BRIEF COMPARATIVE CASE STUDY OF INDIA AND KENYA, INDIAN JOURNAL OF LEGAL REVIEW (IJLR), 4 (2) OF 2024, PG. 1535-1540, APIS – 3920 – 0001 & ISSN – 2583-2344

Abstract

This paper examines the constitutional validity, the statutory backdrop, and the legal administration backgrounds of the Aadhaar system in India and the Huduma Namba in Kenya. India’s Aadhaar system, regulated by the Aadhaar Act 2016, has recorded an enrollment of more than 1.3 billion citizens using their demographic and biometric information. The system being integrated as a mandatory requirement for accessing public services raised issues of privacy and proportionality that led to a significant hit on the requirement in the 2018 Supreme Court Judgment. Kenya’s Huduma system has faced a constitutional challenge prior to its implementation due to the High Court’s ruling that the government violated the need to have a data protection impact assessment shortly before its operative implementation. This paper explores the two countries’ aim to use the biometric IDs to enhance financial integration and drive off identity-based fraud while facing the reality that stringent privacy safeguards, consent necessitation, and surveillance control are critical in today’s digital identity era.

Keywords: Privacy, Data protection, Statutory interpretation, Proportionality test