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BA friend is a member of a WhatsApp group, asking on her behalf. The WhatsApp group started as a friendly sharing of information for mothers in a city. Over time, it grew big and got coverage in news etc. Now it’s big, and the admins manage multiple sub-groups.
Recently, they changed the rules and have started a formal membership registration process. For those who want to advertise in the group, there is a fee to be a member. For normal members, it’s free, but all members are asked to submit KYC documents. The KYC is similar to any bank account opening stuff. Like ID Proof, Address proof, DOB, Photo etc. They ask for Aadhaar card, passport, PAN or any other Govt ID. They say this is for ensuring safety of the women in the group.
I understand this is what is known as Personally Identifiable Information (PII). And I know for sure that in Western countries asking such information comes with a lot of responsibility and liability, and there are regulations on who can ask for such information and store it. For example, when Citibank was in India – they would only take masked Aadhar and if a photocopy of Aadhaar is given they ensured that they use a marker to mask off all digits except the last four.
I want to ask what is the legal status of such a thing in India, do we have any laws that deal with who can ask for Aadhaar etc.? Is this legal for the WhatsApp group admin to collect and store such information.
For those curious, the name of the WhatsApp group is Moms of Kochi.
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