The Supreme Court has passed an interim order prohibiting the controversial order in a few states for eateries to display the names of their owners and staff during the Kanwar Yatra.
A bench of Justices Hrishikesh Roy and SVN Bhatti issued a notice to Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Uttarakhand, and other states where the yatra will pass. The matter will be heard again on July 26.
Petitions were filed by Delhi University professor Apoorvanand, activist Aakar Patel, TMC MP Mahua Moitra, and the NGO Association of Protection of Civil Rights. They had claimed that the directions were causing religious discrimination and would “infringe the secular character of the republic as enshrined in the constitution of India”.
The Muzaffarnagar police was the first last week to have issued such a directive. This was soon followed by a few other states.
Police claimed the order was to ensure there was “no confusion” among the kanwariyas and to prevent a law and order situation. But the move was criticised by not just opposition parties but even leaders of three allies of the governing BJP – the JDU, RLD and LJP.
The petitioners also argued today that the enforcement of the directive would lead to economic boycott and lead to a domino effect in other states.
Senior advocate Abhishek Singhvi, appearing for Moitra, said that one goes to a restaurant depending on the menu, not based on who was serving you. He pointed out that there were several pure vegetarian restaurants in the country run by Hindus but with Muslim employees.
The court clarified that the food sellers may be required to display the kind of food they are serving during the yatra, but they must not be forced to disclose the names. The court questioned if kanwariyas also expect the food to be served by people from a certain community.
There was no representative in the court today for the UP police.
Newslaundry had earlier reported how this directive was impacting Muslim vendors. Vendors said the motive was to communalise the issue and that there had never been any dispute with the kanwariyas.
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