Assam Police becomes Northeast's first force to get UIDAI offline verification status

Assam Police has become the first police force in the Northeast and only the third in the country to be registered as an Offline Verification Seeking Entity (OVSE) under the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), a move aimed at strengthening identity verification and improving policing, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma announced on Friday, July 17.

Sharing the development on X, Sarma said the registration would enable police personnel to instantly verify Aadhaar credentials even in areas with poor or no internet connectivity, making law enforcement faster, more secure and citizen-friendly.

The chief minister said the facility would be particularly useful in Assam's hill districts, char (riverine) areas and border villages, where internet connectivity often remains unreliable.

"Being an OVSE will allow a police patrol party to instantly verify a person's credentials by scanning the Aadhaar QR code without depending on internet speed," Sarma said.

Unlike conventional online verification, the Aadhaar QR code contains a UIDAI-issued digitally signed, tamper-proof seal, allowing officers to authenticate identity documents offline. This makes it significantly more difficult for criminals or illegal infiltrators to use forged or photocopied Aadhaar cards to mislead law enforcement agencies.

Officials said the offline verification mechanism would also improve security checks at border areas and during routine patrols, enabling police personnel to verify identities on the spot without requiring access to the internet or UIDAI's central database.

The move is also expected to streamline several public-facing police services, including passport verification, tenant verification, character verification and arms licence verification, reducing delays and allowing faster processing of applications.

Police officers will be able to authenticate key details such as a person's name, photograph, address, gender and date of birth by scanning the Aadhaar QR code, while simultaneously confirming that the document has not been tampered with.

Sarma said the registration marks another step towards modernising the state's policing system by combining technology with efficient public service delivery.

"With this registration, Assam takes another step forward towards efficient, watertight and people-friendly policing," the chief minister said.

The OVSE framework is part of UIDAI's secure offline Aadhaar verification system, which enables authorised agencies to authenticate Aadhaar documents without accessing personal information online, ensuring both security and privacy while improving the speed and reliability of identity verification.