Punjab Police crack down on BJP members ‘promoting central schemes’
The Punjab government justified its move, claiming that ‘data breach’ concerns triggered the clampdown, as Aadhaar details were allegedly being used for scheme update.
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The campaign, which has been running for the past three months, aims to spread awareness about the Centre's welfare schemes in rural areas, claim BJP leaders. In a state-wide crackdown, the Punjab Police Thursday detained BJP leaders and workers during the party’s outreach campaign, “BJP de Sewadar Aa Gaye Ne Tuhade Dwaar” with ruling Aam Aadmi Party claiming that “no political activity has been stopped”, but “a few fake people were illegally collecting personal data of people” and are thus being investigated.
The police crackdown took place even as no specific legal section was explicitly spelled out other than a vague reference to a state government press statement, which spoke about Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 (DPDP Act) as the legal basis for the police action.
The DPDP Act mandates strict consent and transparency in data collection, and violations can lead to penalties. If credible evidence of data misuse exists — such as reports of scams or banking frauds linked to the camps — the government has a legal obligation to act, said a police officer not willing to be named.
Punjab Police either detained BJP leaders in their houses or raided the facilitation centres that the party workers had set up in villages across the state and took many people into custody.
While no Punjab Police officer was willing to speak on record about the crackdown, there was a mention about invoking provisions under the Information Technology Act, 2000 (e.g., Section 43A or 72A for mishandling personal data) or relevant sections of the Aadhaar Act, 2016 (e.g., Section 29 or 37 for unauthorized use of Aadhaar data).
The BJP campaign, which has been running for the past three months, aims to spread awareness about the Central government welfare schemes in rural areas, say party leaders.
State BJP chief Sunil Jakhar said he had learnt that police had been talking of slapping cases of data theft on BJP cadres.
The Punjab government justified its move, claiming that ‘data breach’ concerns triggered the clampdown, as Aadhaar details were allegedly being used for scheme update.
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