The Allahabad High Court has come down heavily on U.P. Government for putting up hoardings with photos of alleged anti CAA protesters
The Allahabad High Court has come down heavily on State Government of Uttar Pradesh (U.P.) today, i.e., Monday, March 9, 2020, for putting up hoardings with photos of alleged anti-Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) protestors in Lucknow.
Slamming the U.P. State Government, a bench comprising of Chief Justice of Allahabad High Court – Govind Mathur and Justice Ramesh Sinha directed the District Magistrate and Divisional Commissioner of Lucknow to get the posters / hoardings removed by March 16, 2020 and submit a report in this regard on the same date.
Taking Suo Moto cognizance of a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) on the issue, the High Court took up the matter for hearing on Sunday, March 8, 2020 but had reserved the order.
Prior to this on Thursday, March 5, 2020, the U.P. Government had put of hoardings mentioning name, photos, address and amount of compensation to be paid by alleged anti-CAA protestors.
The hoardings were put up in compliance to the announcement made by the Chief Minister of U.P. – Yogi Adityanath on December 19, 2019, to confiscate the personal property of the protestors who are damaging the public property during the anti-CAA protests. The Chief Minister had also said that the loss to the State would be recovered by attaching the properties of those who are indulging in acts of violence. He had also clarified that anti-CAA protestors will be identified through CCTV footage.
Pronouncing the verdict, the bench observed, “In entirety, we are having no doubt that the action of the state which is subject matter of this public interest litigation is nothing but an unwarranted interference in privacy of people. The same hence, is a violation of Article 21 of the Constitution of India.”
During the proceedings, the Court was first adjourned till 3:00 p.m. as Additional Advocate General – Neeraj Tripathi informed the Court that Advocate General – Raghvendra Pratap Singh, would represent the State Government in this matter. As the bench rose, it expressed the hope that “good sense would prevail” on the State and it would remove the hoardings before 3:00 p.m. and update the Court on the developments by that time.
When the hearing resumed, Raghvendra Pratap Singh said that the High Court should not interfere in such matter as a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) as those involved have damaged public and private property. He argued that putting up the hoarding is justified so that there are no more incidents of violence in future.
To this, the bench responded that where the values of Constitution of India are subject to injures, the Court may take notice of that.
The bench said, “Where there is gross negligence on part of public authorities and government, where the law is disobeyed and the public is put to suffering and where the precious values of the constitution are subjected to injuries, a Constitutional Court can very well take notice of that at its own.”
The Court also said that there a lakhs accused of serious crimes, but their personal details have never been shared publicly and this act of putting up hoardings is display of powers by the Executive.
Besides, a social activist and member of Indian National Congress (INC) – Sadaf Jafar had termed the U.P. Government’s move as unethical and had vowed to take legal recourse.
Speaking on the occasion, Sadaf said, “How can we be publicly humiliated for something that has not yet been proved in court.”
She further added, “This is not Afghanistan. Legal issues cannot be brought into public like this. Our bail order says there is no adequate evidence against us.”
She also wrote on twitter, “Lucknow: Allahabad High Court asks Lucknow district magistrate and police commissioner to immediately remove the hoardings and present report to the Registrar General by March 16. #SatyamevJayate #LongLiveConstitutionOfIndia”
Lucknow: Allahabad High Court asks Lucknow district magistrate and police commissioner to immediately remove the hoardings and present report to the Registrar General by March 16#SatyamevJayate#LongLiveConstitutionOfIndia
— Sadaf Jafar (@sadafjafar) March 9, 2020
