A five-judge Constitution bench of the Supreme Court will decide on Wednesday whether Aadhaar, the government’s programme to provide a 12-digit biometric-based identity number unique to each citizen, violates fundamental rights.

The five-judge bench will be headed by Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra. The other judges will be AK Sikri, AM Khanwilkar, DY Chandrachud and Ashok Bhushan. Notably, the four judges who spoke out against Misra in a press conference on Friday will not adjudicate the case.

One of the main points of contention is whether Aadhaar violates the fundamental right to privacy, which the Supreme Court upheld in 2017. The Tribune newspaper had published a report which said that Aadhaar data is being sold by vendors through WhatsApp for as little as Rs 500.

Here are six articles on Scroll.in on the Aadhaar controversy:

  • With Virtual ID, UIDAI admits what it has been denying, that leaked Aadhaar numbers are a problem: The new process will allow people to be authenticated without sharing their Aadhaar number.
  • To understand Aadhaar’s threat to democracy, listen to Snoopgate tapes: The tapes are of conversations between Amit Shah and a police office and revolve around the surveillance of a woman, allegedly at the behest of Narendra Modi.
  • RS Prasad’s intervention isn’t enough, as more questions arise from Tribune’s Aadhaar story: Why did UIDAI ask for an FIR against the journalist if it respects press freedom?   
  • Once again, Centre uses criminal case to intimidate journalist exposing Aadhaar vulnerability: How can UIDAI claim nothing went wrong and, at the same time, also file an FIR against the Tribune journalist?   
  • How long can the Indian government continue claiming Aadhaar is secure and foolproof?: A news report in the Tribune claims that how anyone can access demographic data from the entire Aadhaar database for a fee.    
  • A girl died crying for food. Her family is now accused of shaming India: Koili Devi lost her daughter to hunger after failing to link her ration card to Aadhaar. A social boycott has added to her trauma.