Some call it defamatory, others a deterrent

LUCKNOW :The Lucknow district administration’s move to put up posters featuring pictures and addresses of anti-Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) protestors at several crossings in city for recovery of damages has evoked a mixed reaction among experts and social activists.

While some found the move ‘defamatory’, others thought it could prove to be a deterrent against damages to public property in future.

State president of All India Democratic Women Association (AIDWA) Madhu Garg asked if the administration had ever put up hoardings of rapists or murder? “The administration is risking their lives by putting up their photographs along with complete addresses and identity. These people are now vulnerable to threats and could be attacked or lynched by CAA supporters,” she said.

Senior lawyer IB Singh said the administration’s move to put up posters at different locations came in the category of ‘defamation’. He said everybody had the right to live with dignity even if he was a convict.

Mohammad Haider, a corporate lawyer, said the action of the police and district administration was grossly illegal as there was no enabling legal provision justifying this exercise. He said the SC guidelines in ‘Destruction of Public and Private Properties Vs State of Andhra Pradesh & Others’ case did not authorise police or state to initiate any such action, making these individuals vulnerable to threats.

On the other hand, a retired UP Director General of Police (DGP) Anand Lal Banerjee did not find anything wrong in the district administration’s move. He said it would act as deterrent and prove to be a help in future. “Subsequently, it will help people

understand the consequences of damaging the public property,” he added. Ghanshyam Shahi, organising general secretary of Avadh Region Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad, said, “It is high time people resorting to vandalism in the name of protests are punished.