BH CORRESPONDENT, Lucknow: The Allahabad High Court, on Monday, issued directives to the Lucknow district magistrate and the Lucknow commissioner of police to remove all the hoardings immediately that carry names and addresses of 57 anti-Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) protesters put up at major crossings across the state capital Lucknow.
The court has also directed the two senior officials to submit a compliance report to the Registrar General of the High Court by March 16, the next date of hearing.
The two-judge division Bench comprising Chief Justice Govind Mathur and Justice Ramesh Sinha observed that the state government’s action amounted to violation of Art 21 of the Constitution as it was an “unwarranted interference in privacy of people”.
“These fundamental rights cannot be given or taken away by law and laws. All the executive actions must abide by them,” the Bench observed.
The judges not only pulled up the Lucknow district authorities calling their action “highly unjust”, they also termed it an encroachment on the personal liberty of the persons concerned.
On Saturday, the court had taken suo motu cognizance of the hoardings, and asked the district magistrate and divisional commissioner of Lucknow to inform it about the law under which such posters/hoardings were put up on in Lucknow.