'Name and shame' posters: Former IPS officer Darapuri, activist-politician Sadaf Jafar hail HC order

Activist-politician Sadaf Jafar and former IPS officer SR Darapuri whose photos with personal details had appeared on the posters put up to "name and shame" anti-CAA protesters hailed the Allahabad High Court order asking the authorities to remove the hoardings.

The posters bearing photographs, names and addresses of those accused of vandalism during the anti-CAA protests in December had come up at major road crossings in Lucknow late on Thursday night. Darapuri and Jafar were earlier arrested in December in connection with anti-CAA protests in Lucknow. They were granted bail in January.

Reacting to the order, Sadaf Jafar told PTI, "The judgment is extremely welcome because it reiterates our faith in the Constitution of the country, and also in the judiciary. Secondly, it also send a strong signal to the government that the state shall be run not by the authoritarianism, but by the rule of law." She, however, regretted that their personal details have reached people and the threat to their lives was still not over.

"Now our identities, addresses and private information are in inboxes and galleries of people. The damage they wanted to do to us is already done. The danger to our lives is not over yet. But at least it (order) sets a precedent for the future, so that they (government) do not repeat it for others. Hence, I treat it as a landmark judgment," she said.

When contacted, S R Darapuri said, "We welcome the judgment because it proved that in UP, the rule of law will prevail, not the anarchy (aarajaktaa) of the Yogi (Adityanath) government. This is a victory of democracy and defeat of dictatorship." He added that earlier he had written to the DGP and the home secretary that if any untoward incident took place because of the "illegal actions", then they "will be responsible for it". He said around six posters featuring him were put up in parts of the state capital.

The Allahabad High Court on Monday directed the Lucknow adminstration to remove posters of those accused of vandalism during anti-CAA protests in December. The bench of Chief Justice Govind Mathur and Justice Ramesh Sinha also directed the district magistrate and the Lucknow police commissioner to submit a report in this regard by March 16. The court, which had on March 7 taken suo motu cognisance of the issue, on Sunday had termed the move "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.