Lucknow: The government in Uttar Pradesh has made public, the names, addresses and pictures of those anti-Citizenship (Amendment) Act protesters who have been accused of damaging public and private property in December.
According to a report by the Hindustan Times, the private information of the 53 accused anti-CAA protesters has been posted on over 100 hoardings that have been erected by the Lucknow district administration. The hoardings also bear the amount demanded from the protesters, along with a warning that “their properties would be attached if they failed to pay the recovery amount”.
Vishwas Bhushan Mishra, the additional district magistrate, trans-Gomti, told HT that they were ordered to properly publish “the fact that these people are guilty”. It was therefore decided to put the information on hoardings to discourage them from trying to “escape” by selling their properties, the ADM added.
The district administration’s move has been widely criticised both online and offline. The accused protesters, members of the general public, legal experts and social activists have slammed the administration for the public shaming, while others criticised them for their gross violation of the right to privacy.
To mock the UP government, the Samajwadi Party posted to their Twitter account, posters of UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and Deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya, along with scanned copies of old criminal cases against the duo.
Retired IPS officer S R Darapuri, who is among the 53 protesters whose private information has been posted on the hoardings, has said that he will be filing a defamation suit against the Lucknow district administration. He added that they would be moving the High Court against the ADM’s court order which imposes the recovery of damages on the anti-CAA protesters.
“The act is undemocratic and we were not involved in the vandalism. The police themselves have not been able to prove out involvement. The public shaming is unacceptable,” said the retired IPS officer, who was detained for 17 days after the violent protests.
Some of the other protesters, whose faces are plastered on these hoardings, have raised the concern that their private information is now in the hands of the CAA supporters, which potentially puts their lives at risk. “Everyone knows what happened in Delhi,” said one of the anti-CAA protesters. He also pointed out that the cost of erecting the hoardings may have exceeded the money demanded from the protesters. The district administration has assessed the damages at approximately Rs 1.55 crores. They have also issued notices regarding the same to the 53 protesters.
The protesters have also questioned why the district administration doesn’t publicly display the names of criminals who commit serious crimes like rape and murder.
