Congress welcomes SC ruling on Aadhaar (Lead)

New Delhi : The Congress on Wednesday welcomed the Supreme Court decision to strike down the "draconian" Section 57 of the Aadhaar Act which allows any private entity to demand the unique identity document from citizens for the purpose of identification.

It added that the next step was to destroy the citizen's data already collected by the government under the Aadhaar Act.

"We welcome the Supreme Court decision to strike down Section 57 of the Aadhaar Act," the party said in a tweet.

Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala said the verdict had upheld the individual's right to privacy.

"The Modi government's draconian Section 57 quashed - bank account, mobile, school, airlines, travel agents, private entities requiring Aaadhar data quashed. Time to take next step to destroy the citizen's data collected now," he tweeted.

In its landmark judgement, the Supreme Court upheld the constitutional validity of the Aadhaar document but with modifications. It said it will not be required for opening bank accounts, admissions in schools or for getting mobile phone connections.