Aadhar card applications reunite 16 individuals with their families in Nagpur

The 16, including children, senior citizens, disabled children and adults, were separated from their families and went missing over the years with some of them going missing as far as over a decade. They were rehabilitated by NGOs or adopted by new families.

APPLICATIONS FOR the Aadhar card helped to reunite 16 missing people from Nagpur with their families. Files of the 16 others are being processed by Nagpur’s Aadhar Kendra to reunite them with their families as well.

The 16, including children, senior citizens, disabled children and adults, were separated from their families and went missing over the years with some of them going missing as far as over a decade. They were rehabilitated by NGOs or adopted by new families.

When these individuals applied for Aadhar, their applications were rejected multiple times. Officials from the Aadhar Seva Kendra (ASK) at Nagpur guessed that this could happen because their biometric information was already linked to an existing Aadhar identity, dug up the information, and reached out to the original families.

Honorary Captain Anil Marathe, centre manager of the ASK at Mankapur in Nagpur, who had been driving the initiative, said, “These people come to the centre to get an Aadhar card. However, their applications got rejected multiple times after which they approached us with doubts, enlisting our help. When I examined their case, it came to my attention that there has to be a reason their application gets rejected, possibly because their biometric information is already linked to an account. I referred such cases to the regional Aadhar centre in Mumbai and the technology centre in Bengaluru. Detailed information received from such escalations revealed their original identities that were registered with us. We have then contacted their families and reunited the missing persons.”

Marathe cited the case of an 18-year-old disabled individual highlighted last year to this pattern. The individual, who lived with his adoptive parents in Nagpur wanted to register for an Aadhar card for his 12th standard exam. However, his application was rejected multiple times.

During the enquiry, Marathe found out that the boy was found at a railway station when he was eight years old and was sent to an orphanage. He had trouble adjusting to this institution, so a superintendent named Samarth Damle took him home and raised him alongside two of his children. In 2021, the boy wanted to appear for the 12th exam and applied for Aadhar.

Marathe said, “That’s when I realised his information must already exist on the portal. He wanted to make a new registration but I referred his case to the Bengaluru centre and found out he was registered as Mohammad Aamir, who had gone missing from his home in Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh, when he was eight years.”