Govt Makes Aadhaar Cards Mandatory For Matrimonial Websites Registration, Will This Really Help?

In order to prevent increasing instances of crime against women through online matrimonial sites, the Ministry for Women and Child Development wants implementation of Aadhaar on Matrimonial sites.

This move will help matrimonial sites to verify the authenticity of the profiles they put up. At present, there are men who have multiple accounts in different websites which increases the chances of women being cheated while looking for grooms. This will also limit men faking their identity on matrimonial websites.

The ministry also suggested that by early next year all matrimonial sites will have to act in accordance with the new rule. They have also asked them to crack down on fake profiles. Making an Aadhaar card compulsory will ensure the pictures of the grooms are on the profiles. This will limit the number of stalkers, serial daters and married men posing as single.

As of now, the mobile number is the only requirement to register on matrimonial sites, which in sense is not enough in terms of safety. Some matrimonial websites insist on ID proofs and videos of the person but that happens only when the user reports his/her profile as fake.

According to the media reports, last year, there were 35-40 Mn online registered profiles on matrimonial sites. And 2.2 Mn online profiles were being uploaded every month. Of these, around 10% managed to find spouses online.

However, Founder & CEO of Bharatmatrimony.com, Janakiraman Murugavel is of different view. He said, we notice that these profiles get the maximum response but making any of these documents compulsory — even an ID like Aadhaar will be difficult. Most users are concerned about privacy and some don’t even have ID proofs.

The website had recently started providing free on-ground verification of profiles in New Delhi and Chennai, he further added.

However, making Aadhaar card compulsory will not completely serve the purpose as there are so many instances of fake Aadhaar cards. There is no certainty of proper results from this rule. On the other side, this will definitely affect the matrimonial site business to the worst. Now we have see what can be done to save the online matrimonial business as well as the interests of women.

Note: We at Inc42 take our ethics very seriously. More information about it can be found here.