Guwahati: Assam Police have become country’s third and region’s first state agency to be registered as an Offline Verification Seeking Entity (OVSE) under the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI).Before Assam Police, the UIDAI OVSE list included two state-police-linked entities — Ahmedabad City Crime Branch in Gujarat and Police Computer Services and Standardisation of Telangana Police — besides central forces such as CISF and Sashastra Seema Bal.The OVSE registration will now allow Assam Police to carry out UIDAI-approved offline Aadhaar verification in the field, enabling faster identity checks, detection of forged Aadhaar documents and quicker delivery of police verification services, especially in remote and low-connectivity areas of the state.The registration is expected to benefit routine police-linked public services such as tenant verification, character verification, passport verification and arms licence verification. Instead of relying only on physical Aadhaar copies, police personnel will be able to verify whether the Aadhaar document presented is genuine by scanning its secure QR code.For Assam Police, the OVSE registration is significant because it combines mobility, offline access and document-authenticity checks in a state where policing often involves remote terrain, porous border zones and connectivity gaps. It can help police teams to complete identity checks during field verification without waiting for station-level online access, while also reducing dependence on photocopied documents that may be forged or altered.CM Himanta Biswa Sarma said this would make police verification services faster, simpler and more reliable, especially in areas with poor internet connectivity while making the announcement on X. Sarma said the registration marks another step towards “efficient, watertight and people-friendly policing” in Assam.The chief minister said the registration was significant for Assam because large parts of the state — including hill areas, riverine chars and border villages — do not always have reliable high-speed internet access.With OVSE status, he said, police personnel in the field will be able to verify a person’s Aadhaar credentials instantly by scanning the QR code, without having to depend on online connectivity.“Aadhaar QR code carries an unforgeable digital seal and it becomes much harder for a criminal or illegal infiltrator to use a fake or photocopied Aadhaar card to mislead the police,” the CM said.UIDAI defines offline verification as a framework that allows entities to verify the identity of an Aadhaar number holder without connecting to UIDAI’s Central Identities Data Repository (CIDR). It describes the process as secure, consent-based and offline. Entities registered to conduct such verification for lawful purposes are called OVSEs.The Aadhaar QR code is digitally signed by UIDAI and is present on all forms of Aadhaar, including Aadhaar letter, e-Aadhaar, Aadhaar PVC card and mAadhaar. According to UIDAI, it contains demographic details such as name, address, gender, date of birth and photograph, along with the last four digits of the Aadhaar number and masked contact details. The QR code can be verified in offline mode using UIDAI-authorised scanner applications.
