Allahabad High Court Orders Removal Of Lucknow Hoardings Naming Anti-CAA Protesters

The Allahabad High Court on Monday ordered the removal of hoardings that “named and shamed” those who protested against the Citizenship Amendment Act for alleged destruction of public property. 

The hoardings named 53 people including activist Safdaf Jafar and former IPS officer SR Darapuri. 

The court, according to Live Law , also directed the District Magistrate and police commissioner to submit a compliance report with Registrar General of the High Court by March 16. 

The hoardings, put up in Lucknow on direction from the Uttar Pradesh government, not only had the names and photos of the people, but also their addresses. 

Bar and Bench reported that the court said that the attorney general could not give a satisfactory answer to why personal information of people was put on the hoardings.

“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 is in violation of Art 21 of the Constitution,” Bar and Bench quoted the court as saying. 

The hoardings, put up in Lucknow on direction from the Uttar Pradesh government, not only had the names and photos of the people, but also their addresses. 

Chief Justice Govind Mathur had taken suo motu cognizance of the incident. 

Those named in the hoardings had been granted bail after the court said there was not enough evidence against them  to prove the charges of rioting that they had been arrested under. 

Those named in the hoardings had feared mob attacks on their homes given their addresses were mentioned on them. 

“It is as if the government has opened us up to a mob attack,” said Sadaf Jafar , who had been arrested and tortured by the UP police told Huffpost India last week after the hoarding came up. 

“What if a mob comes with guns, what will I do? What if they catch my hair and drag me away, what will I do?” she said. “How inhuman, how insane and how idiotic is this?”