On Monday, Allahabad High Court ordered and directed the District Magistrate and the Commissioner of Lucknow to remove the hoardings put up by the Uttar Pradesh government that featured the names, photos, addresses of the alleged anti-CAA violent protestors.
On Sunday, a public holiday, the court reserved the day to pronounce the verdict of the public interest litigation by taking suo moto cognizance. The division bench headed by Chief Justice Govind Mathur termed the act of putting up personal information of people on public hoarding as an “Absolute encroachment on personal liberty of individuals”.
On Saturday, the court had issued notice to the district administrator of Lucknow and the divisional commissioner of police seeking an explanation of the law that allows the state administration to blatantly display information concerned to individuals.
The hoardings were put up on Friday, reportedly on the orders of the Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, that contained information of people accused of violence during the anti-CAA protest of December 19, 2019. The hoardings also carried a warning directed to the accused that in case of failure of them reimbursing for the damage caused, their property would be snatched.
Several prominent names featured on the hoardings including the congress leader Sadaf Jafar, former IPS officer SR Darapuri, a Shia cleric Maulana Saif Abbas and theatre personality Deepak Kabir along with 49 others.
The High Court heavily came down on the advocate general appearing for the state as it underlined the importance of courts in times of public unjust.
“In such matters, the court is not required to wait for a person to come before it. The courts are meant to impart justice and should not shut its eyes if public unjust is happening before it.”
“In this case, the cause is not about the breach of privacy of few individuals but it is the blatant disregard for constitutional values and its shameless depiction by the administration” – the court further condemned the administration.
Ultimately, the court found the act by the state to be an unwarranted breach of privacy and pronounced it to have no legal basis and legitimate aim. The court, after ordering the immediate removal of the hoardings, asked the DM and the commissioner to file a report by the 16th of March.
