'Name and Shame’ hoardings not backed by law: Supreme Court pulls up UP govt

New Delhi, Mar 12: The Supreme Court on Thursday pulled up the Uttar Pradesh government for publicly pasted the posters of the protesters who demonstrated against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act or CAA.

It directed the apex court registry to put up the case file before Chief Justice of India (CJI) S A Bobde so that a "bench of sufficient strength can be constituted at the earliest to hear and consider" the case next week.

"There is no law to back the Uttar Pradesh government's action of putting up hoardings naming those accused of violence during protests against the citizenship law," said Justice UU Lalit highlighting the issue of privacy.

"The wrong-doer must be brought to book. But can the state go beyond that?" Justice UU Lalit observed, asking if the state government has the power to put up such hoardings.

The top court was hearing a petition by the Yogi Adityanath government, challenging an order earlier this week by the Allahabad High Court asking the government to remove the 'name and shame' posters and hoardings put up across Lucknow.

Defending the UP government move, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta submitted to the Supreme Court that the Allahabad High Court had erred in passing the order directing it to remove hoarding of the alleged arsonists protesting against the Citizenship Amendment Act.

"Where is that power," Justice Aniruddha Bose asked Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, about the inherent powers which it (UP govt) had, and it invoked against the alleged arsonists in the protests against CAA in Lucknow.

On Monday, the Allahabad High Court had ruled that the state government's action of erecting the hoardings in Lucknow with personal details of the alleged anti-CAA protestors amounted to an infringement of their privacy.