Biometric SIM registration is legal: HC

Biometric data collection and fingerprints of people have been legalized for registering mobile phone’s Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) cards after scrapping a writ petition that challenged the move.

The High Court (HC) bench of Justice Syed Muhammad Dastagir Husain and Justice AKM Shahidul Huq came up with the order after disposing a writ petition that challenged the legality of biometric SIM registration.

On 9 March, Supreme Court lawyer SM Enamul Haque filed a writ petition with the High Court challenging the legality of the SIM/RUIM registration through the biometric process.

On 14 March, the High Court issued a rule upon the authorities concerned to explain why the biometric registration of subscriber identity modules (SIMs) and Removable User Identity Modules (RUIMs) should not be declared illegal.

The home, law and telecommunications secretaries, chairman of Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BRTC) and mobile phone operators– Grameenphone, Robi, Banglalink, Airtel, Citycell and Teletalk–were asked to come up with their explanations within two weeks.