The Supreme Court on Tuesday sought a response from the Uttar Pradesh government on a plea challenging the state’s directive mandating the display of QR codes on all eateries along the ‘Kanwar Yatra’ route, which reveal the names and identities of the owners.
A bench of Justices MM Sundresh and N Kotiswar Singh issued a notice to the state government and posted the plea filed by academician Apoorvanand Jha and others on July 22.
The top court had last year stayed similar directives issued by BJP-ruled Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, and Madhya Pradesh, asking eateries along the Kanwar Yatra routes to display the names of their owners, staff and other details.
Referring to a press release issued by the UP administration on June 25, Jha said, “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.”
The petition said the state government’s directive asking stall owners to reveal religious and caste identities under “lawful licence requirements” breaches the right to privacy of the shop, dhaba, and restaurant owners.
Numerous devotees travel from various places with ‘kanwars’ carrying holy water from the Ganga to perform the ‘jalabhishek’ of Shivlings during the Hindu calendar month of ‘Shravan’.
Many believers shun consumption of meat during the month. Many don’t even consume meals containing onions and garlic.
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