Anti-CAA Protest: Allahabad HC Orders Removal Of Hoardings Put Up By Uttar Pradesh Govt In ‘Name & Shame’ Case

The court ordered the immediate removal of roadside photographs of those who damaged property in CAA protests in Lucknow and asked to file an affidavit along with the compliance report on 16 March.

Lucknow: People walk past a poster displaying photographs of those who have been identified to pay the compensation for vandalizing public properties during protests against CAA, in Lucknow, Friday, March 6, 2020. (PTI Photo/Nand Kumar)

New Delhi: The Allahabad High Court on Monday ordered to remove the hoardings put up by Uttar Pradesh government, with names, addresses and photos of those who were accused of violence during protests against Citizenship Amendment Act. The court ordered the immediate removal of roadside photographs of those who damaged property in CAA protests in Lucknow and asked to file an affidavit along with the compliance report on 16 March. While hearing the case on Sunday, the High Court termed as "highly unjust" the putting up of roadside banners with photographs and information of people asked to pay compensation for damage to property during anti-CAA protests, and hoped that they will be removed, but the Uttar Pradesh government asserted that it was a "deterrent" action and the court should not interfere in such a matter. The court, which had on March 7 taken suo motu cognizance of the issue and asked the district magistrate and divisional commissioner of Lucknow to inform it about the law under which such posters/hoardings were put on the streets of the state capital, on Sunday reserved its order till March 9. The state police has put up several hoardings across Lucknow identifying those accused of violence during the protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 in December last year. The names, photographs and residential addresses of the accused are listed in the hoardings and they have been asked to pay for the damage to public and private property within a stipulated time or have their properties seized by the district administration. Taking up the matter on Sunday, a bench comprising Chief Justice Govind Mathur and Justice Ramesh Sinha termed the action of Uttar Pradesh authorities as "highly unjust" and said it was an absolute encroachment on personal liberty of individuals. It later adjourned the matter till 3 pm as Additional Advocate General Neeraj Tripathi informed the court that the Advocate General would represent the state government. As the bench rose, it expressed the hope that "good sense would prevail" on the State and it would remove the hoardings before 3 pm and apprise the court about this at that time. When the hearing resumed, Advocate General Raghvendra Pratap Singh contended that the court should not interfere in such matter as a public interest litigation, as those involved have damaged public and private property. The Advocate General termed the act of the state government in putting up the posters of alleged CAA protestors as a 'deterrent' so that such incidents of violence are not repeated in future. The court had then reserved its order till 2 pm on March 9, 2020. (with additional inputs from PTI)