Aadhaar Act’s Punitive Clauses Inapplicable Retroactively Without Explicit Mandate Due To Article 20(1) Constraint: Calcutta High Court

The Calcutta High Court, through Justice Uday Kumar, has ruled that the penal provisions of the Aadhaar Act, 2016 cannot be applied to offences committed before the Act came into force. The Court held that doing so would amount to a violation of Article 20(1) of the Constitution of India, which prohibits retrospective criminal liability. Background of the case The case arose from a complaint filed on September 7, 2018,…