New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday issued a notice to the Uttar Pradesh government on a batch of petitions challenging the state's directive mandating the display of QR codes on all eateries along the 'kanwar' yatra route to reveal their names and identities.
A bench of Justices MM Sundresh and N Kotiswar Singh heard these petitions filed by Delhi University professor Apoorvanand Jha and activist Aakar Patel. The petitioners argued that the directive to display QR code is a digital version of religious profiling, which is a violation of the top court's previous order, reported The Times of India.
Notably, in July last year, the apex court had stayed similar directives by the Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh governments. As per these directives, hawkers and food sellers needed to display the names of owners and staff publicly.
“We deem it appropriate to pass interim order prohibiting the enforcement of the impugned directives,” the court had said in the earlier order. It made it clear that vendors should not be asked to provide details of the food being served and not their identity.
"The new measures mandate the display of QR codes on all eateries along the kanwar route, which reveal the names and identities of the owners, thereby achieving the same discriminatory profiling that was previously stayed by this court," Jha said, while referring to a press release issued by the UP administration on June 25 as reported by PTI.
The petition filed by Jha said the state government's directive asking stall owners to reveal religious and caste identities under "lawful license requirements" breaches the right to privacy of the shop, dhaba, and restaurant owners.
The Kanwar Yatra is an annual pilgrimage that is observed by devotees of Lord Shiva in the holy month of Shravan. They fetch holy water from the Ganga. This holy water is then offered to Lord Shiva by the devotees at their native places. Devotees who take part in this auspicious yatra are known as Kanwariyas.
