New Delhi: Posters with pictures of 12 people who are said to have taken part in a protest against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act last year and are “absconding” have come up again in Lucknow, police said on Thursday. The posters came up months after the local administration had put up hoardings with pictures of some protesters to try and claim damages for alleged vandalism, leading to a major controversy.
Earlier this year, the Allahabad high court had directed the Lucknow administration to remove the “name-and-shame” hoardings and the government had approached the Supreme Court, where the matter is pending. Civil society activists had also said that by making personal details of the anti-CAA protestors public, their safety had been seriously risked.
The bench said then that the state’s action violated Article 14 of the constitution and was an “unwarranted interference in privacy of people”.
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The two new separate posters also mention a reward of Rs 5,000 for giving information about the agitators. A police spokesperson said the posters with photographs had been put up at public places in the Uttar Pradesh capital.
One of the posters carry pictures and addresses of eight people who were booked under the Gangsters Act and have been declared absconders. The other has pictures of those who are apparently absconding, but action under the Act has not been initiated, the official said.
According to police, all these people had participated in a protest against the contentious CAA in Lucknow on December 19 and “instigated violence”, in which a person was killed and public property was damaged.
(With PTI inputs)