TRAI chief's dare: UIDAI warns people not to share Aadhaar number

New Delhi: Days after TRAI chief's Aadhaar dare created a flutter, the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) on Tuesday asked people not to share their 12-digit identifier publicly on the Internet and social media, or pose such challenges to others.

"Such activities are uncalled for and should be refrained as these are not under the law," UIDAI said in a statement.

An all-out war has been raging on Twitter since Saturday after Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) chief R S Sharma shared his Aadhaar number publicly, challenging anyone to show how mere knowledge of the number can be misused to harm him. While some claimed to have got access to his bank account number and email, Sharma refuted the claims saying they were untrue.

UIDAI also warned that doing Aadhaar authentication through somebody else's Aadhaar number or using someone else's Aadhaar number for any purpose may amount to impersonation and thereby a criminal offence under the Aadhaar Act and Indian Penal Code.