Congress, SP, BSP welcome Allahabad HC’s decision on anti-CAA posters

The Samajwadi Party (SP), Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and Congress on Monday welcomed the Allahabad High Court's order directing the Lucknow administration to remove posters of those accused of vandalism during anti-CAA protests in December.

"The government neither has the knowledge of the right to privacy of citizens nor any respect for the constitution. The people of the state are fed up with this government. We welcome the high court's decision," SP supremo Akhilesh Yadav said.

BSP supremo Mayawati too welcomed the decision.

"The BSP welcomes the honourable high court's order directing the administration to remove hoardings of those accused of violence during the anti-CAA protests after taking suo motu cognisance of the matter," Mayawati said in a tweet.

Meanwhile, Congress state president Ajay Kumar Lallu said the court's decision has "exposed" the undemocratic and anti-constitution stand of the Adityanath government.

"The right to privacy is a fundamental right but the government ignored it and put up posters of the accused which was unconstitutional and undemocratic," Lallu said.

Stressing that it is for the court to decide whether the accused were involved in violence or not, Lallu said: "No charges have been proved against anyone yet." Earlier in the day, Allahabad bench Chief Justice Govind Mathur and Justice Ramesh Sinha had directed the district magistrate and the Lucknow Police commissioner to submit a report on the matter by March 16.

The court, which had on March 7 taken suo motu cognisance of the issue, on Sunday termed the move as "highly unjust" and said it was an "absolute encroachment on personal liberty of individuals".

The posters bearing photographs, names and addresses of those accused of vandalism during the anti-CAA protests had come up at major road crossings in Lucknow late on Thursday night on the directions of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, an official had said.