UP government to bring ordinance against anti-CAA protesters

Official sources confirmed that the draft ordinance has been approved in the cabinet meeting held on Friday evening.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath (Photo | PTI)
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath (Photo | PTI)

LUCKNOW: In an unexpected move, the Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh has approved an ordinance punishing those who damaged public and private property during the anti-CAA protests.

Official sources confirmed that the draft ordinance has been approved in the cabinet meeting held on Friday evening. The ordinance will now be signed and issued by the Raj Bhawan. Speaking to the media persons after the cabinet meeting, UP Minister Suresh Kumar Khanna claimed that the state government had brought the ordinance in consonance with the Supreme Court’s order over constitution of recovery tribunal to extract the losses to government and private properties in political and illegal agitations in the country.  However, he clarified that the guidelines of ordinance were being framed. 

ALSO READ: UP government to bring ordinance against anti-CAA protesters

The Yogi Adityanath government has taken the ordinance route after being severely indicted by both the High Court and the Supreme Court for putting up 100 hoardings across Lucknow, displaying photographs and other details of anti-CAA protesters.

The state government official spokesman and cabinet minister Sidharth Nath Singh said at present the state government was recovering the losses through government order (GO) but now onwards it would be done through this ordinance which had been brought in the wake of SC order.

It may be recalled that the state government is caught in a legal battle after putting up hoardings of those 57 persons who are allegedly accused of violence and vandalism during anti-CAA protests in Lucknow on December 19-20, last year. The authorities have even served recovery notices worth Rs 21.67 lakh on 13 of them. Both the courts had wanted to under which law did the state government put up such hoardings.

The hoardings were put up on March 6 with names, photos and addresses of the accused, asking them to pay Rs 64 lakh or get their properties seized. The hoarding war took another turn on Thursday night when a Samajwadi Party leader put up hoardings of rape convict and rape accused Kuldeep Sengar and former Union minister Chinmayanand, respectively, adjacent to the anti-CAA hoardings.

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