AGENCIES / LUCKNOW
In a major ruling the Allahabad High Court today ordered the Lucknow District Administration to remove the hoardings of anti-CAA protesters put up across the state capital. The court also asked the authorities to submit a compliance report by March 16.
Taking suo-moto cognizance of the matter on Sunday, the division bench comprising Chief Justice Govind Mathur and Justice Ramesh Sinha had said the order will be pronounced at 2pm on Monday.
The banners were erected at major road crossings in the busy Hazratganj area of the state’s capital on Thursday night on the orders of the Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.
In Lucknow, around 50 people were identified by police as alleged rioters and were served notices to compensate for the public and private property damages.
Human rights activist and former IPS officer SR Darapuri,-politician Sadaf Jafar were among those whose photos appeared on the posters.
Calling the state government’s move of erecting the hoarding as ‘highly unjust’ and stating it as absolute ‘encroachment’ on personal liberty, the Allahabad HC had pulled up the government and termed the act as an insult of state and its public.
The court orally observed that “good sense should prevail on the State and it must remove the hoardings and apprise the court about this at 3 pm.”