Justice K.S.Puttaswamy(Retd) vs Union Of India on 26 September, 2018 and iris scan. These are to be given to the enrolment agency in the first instance which is a private body and, thus, there is risk of misuse of this vital information pertaining to an individual. Further, it is argued that the most delicate and fragile part, susceptible to misuse, is the authentication process which is to be carried out each time the holder of Aadhaar number wants to establish her identity. At that stage, not only the individual parts with the biometric information again with the RE (which may again be a private agency as well), the purpose for which such a person approaches the RE would also be known i.e. the nature of transaction which is supposed to be undertaken by the said person at that time. Such information relating to different transactions of a person across the life of the citizen is connected to a central database. This record may enable the State to profile citizens, track their movements, assess their habits and silently influence their behaviour. Over a period of time, the profiling would enable the State to stifle dissent and influence political decision making. It may also enable the State to act as a surveillant state and there is a propensity for it to become a totalitarian state. It is stressed that at its core, Aadhaar alters the relationship between the citizen and the State. It diminishes the status of the citizen. Rights freely exercised, liberties freely enjoyed, entitlements granted by the Constitution and laws are all made conditional, on a compulsory barter. The barter compels the citizen to give up her biometrics voluntarily, allow her biometrics and demographic information to be stored by the State and private operators and then used for a process termed authentication. To put it in nutshell, provisions of the Aadhaar Act are perceived by the petitioners as giving away of vital information about the residents to the State not only in the form of biometrics but also about the movement as well as varied kinds of transactions which a resident would enter into from time to time. The threat is in the form of profiling the citizens by the State on the one hand and also misuse thereof by private agencies whether it is enrolling agency or requesting agency or even private bodies mentioned in Section 57 of the Act. In essence, it is stated that not only data of aforesaid nature is stored by the CIDR, which has the threat of being leaked, it can also be misused by non-State actors. In other words, it is sought to be highlighted that there is no assurance of any data protection at any level. 46) The respondents, on the other hand, have attempted to shake the very foundation of the aforesaid structure of the petitioners case. They argue that in the first instance, minimal biometric information of the applicant, who intends to have Aadhaar number, is obtained which is also stored in CIDR for the purpose of authentication. Secondly, no other information is stored. It is emphasised that there is no data collection in respect of religion, caste, tribe, language records of entitlement, income or medical history of the applicant at the time of Aadhaar enrolment. Thirdly, the Authority also claimed that the entire Aadhaar enrolment eco- system is foolproof inasmuch as within few seconds of the biometrics having been collected by the enrolling agency, the said information gets transmitted the Authorities/CIDR, that too in an encrypted form, and goes out of the reach of the enrolling agency. Same is the situation at the time of authentication as biometric information does not remain with the requesting agency. Fourthly, while undertaking the authentication process, the Authority simply matches the biometrics and no other information is received or stored in respect of purpose, location or nature or transaction etc. Therefore, the question of profiling does not arise at all. A powerpoint presentation was given by Dr. Ajay Bhushan Pandey, CEO of the Authority, in the Court, while explaining various nuances of the whole process. Indian Kanoon - http://indiankanoon.org/doc/127517806/ 29