High Court pulls up authorities over biometric SIM registration

The High Court has pulled up the authorities for pushing to get registration of mobile phone SIMs with biometric details.

Court CorrespondentSupreme bdnews24.com
Published : 14 March 2016, 08:18 AM
Updated : 14 March 2016, 08:18 AM

It issued a rule on Monday after hearing a petition challenging the process, that the government says is aimed at controlling crimes using SIM cards under false identities.
 
The bench of justices Syed Muhammad Dastagir Husain and AKM Shahidul Huq has asked why taking fingerprints of citizens by private entities, in this case mobile phone operators, will not be declared beyond legal jurisdiction.
 
It ordered the 13 people including, secretaries to the home and law ministries, chairman of the telecoms regulatory body, chief election commissioner, NID registration wing’s chief and the mobile phone operators to come up with an explanation within a week.
 
The court has fixed Mar 24 for the next day to hear the matter.
 
A SIM card is now not being sold without the buyer’s fingerprints, while the work to re-register SIM card owners by taking their fingerprints is set to continue until April.
 
On Mar 9, a petition was filed by lawyer SM Enamul Haque challenging the move, which was heard by the court on Monday.
 
The plea argued that only the government or a statutory authority can collect such data, but in this case private companies have been give the right.
 
The SIM re-registration process, that started on Dec 16, aimed at controlling crime using SIM card registered under false names.