CHENNAI: Noting that it is not worth hearing the petition filed against Star Health Insurance alleging selling of sensitive personal data of three crore insurees to a hacker, the Madras High Court directed the litigant to get remedy from the pending civil suit filed against the insurance company.
Justice M Dhandapani opined that the petitioner is conducting a parallel trial as a civil case filed by him against the insurance company which is pending before the civil court and observed that a person cannot be penalised by two court proceedings for an alleged crime.
The judge also dismissed the petition seeking to probe the health insurance company regarding his complaint and directed the petitioner to get a remedy from the civil court.
The petitioner, Himanshu Pathak, a cyber-security researcher moved the petition alleging a huge data breach accusation against the insurance company and sought action.
The counsel for the petitioner submitted that the insurance company had accepted that it had been victim to a cyber-attack which resulted in unauthorised and illegal access to certain data. He sought the Court to direct the Union government to initiate a probe into the issue.
Additional Solicitor General (ASG) ARL Sundaresan on behalf of the Union government submitted that according to the Information Technology Act 2000, the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA). It is not a fit case which deserves to be investigated by the Union government, added the ASG.
The counsel for the petitioner submitted that more than 3 crore policy holders’ sensitive data were breached including PAN, Aadhar, Income Tax and medical details. Some top officials of the insurance company sold the information to a Chinese hacker, alleged the petitioner.
In the meantime, he filed this petition with a plea to direct the Union government to probe into the matter and take action against the insurance company. However, the judge refused the plea as a civil case is pending in this regard and the court cannot direct the Union government in this regard.