Allahabad High Court Orders UP Govt To Remove 'Name And Shame' Posters Featuring Anti-CAA Protesters

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 new citizenship law. Posters had come up at major road crossings in Lucknow late on Thursday night on the directions of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. The bench of Chief Justice Govind Mathur and Justice Ramesh Sinha also directed the district magistrate and the Lucknow police commissioner to submit a report in this regard by March 16.

The order came a day after Allahabad High Court reserved its order on a matter related to the state government's move to put up posters of people asked to pay compensation for damage to public property during anti-CAA protests. After the hearing resumed on Sunday, 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 then reserved its order till 2 pm on March 9, 2020.

In Lucknow, around 50 people were identified by police as alleged rioters and were served notices.  Activist-politician Sadaf Jafar and former IPS officer SR Darapuri were among those whose photos appeared on the posters.

The hoardings put up by the administration said that the properties of the accused will be confiscated if they fail to pay the compensation.

In December last year, massive violence had broken out across the state during the anti-CAA protests. At least 60 police personnel were hit by bullets across the state while trying to control the violence. Later, hundreds were arrested across the violence-hit districts in Uttar Pradesh and charges of rioting and attempted murder were filed against them.

(With Inputs From PTI)