Kanpur twins go viral for rare similar biometrics, probe reveals administrative error

In the rare case in Naubasta, Kanpur, where twin brothers Pavitra and Prabal Mishra, who had stunned the biometric experts by having perfectly matching fingerprints and retinal patterns, a phenomenon highly unusual seen even among twins, however, further probe later revealed the reality to be otherwise.

This was found out after one twin’s Aadhaar was automatically deactivated when the other updated his biometric data, which highlighted the initial challenge for biometric systems that rely on uniqueness.

Fingerprint overlap in identical twins generally falls between 55% and 74%, positioning this case as highly unusual and prompting questions on biometric accuracy and testing.

A media report claimed that both sons of a family had identical retinas and fingerprints, preventing one child's Aadhaar card from being created due to matching biometrics.

As soon as the news became widespread, the Aadhaar Seva Kendra located on Mall Road started an investigation. Akram, the assistant manager and media coordinator of the center, said that both children were born on January 10, 2015.

A few months after their birth, Aadhaar cards were made for both of them. In the case of young children, retina and fingerprint matching is not done. For infants, biometric verification like retina or fingerprint scans isn't required.

When the children aged and their cards were updated, a data entry error occurred, i.e. all details matched except names, so one child's biometrics were mistakenly duplicated into both records. 

This led to one card being canceled. The issue stemmed from a technical glitch called biometric mixing. After review, the error was fixed by capturing fresh biometrics for the affected child. In reality, the brothers do not share identical retinas or fingerprints.