Plea in SC against UP, Uttarakhand orders to display eatery owners’ names during Kanwar Yatra
New Delhi: Delhi University professor Apoorvanand and human rights activist Aakar Patel have approached the Supreme Court seeking an immediate stay on recent directives by the governments of Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand that mandate eatery owners to publicly display their names along Kanwar Yatra routes.
According to the petition, the orders, directing restaurants and dhabas to put up boards with owner names and QR codes disclosing identity details, amount to “discriminatory profiling” and violate fundamental rights to privacy and dignity. The directives, the petition contends, resurrect a practice the apex court had previously stayed on July 22, 2024, ruling that the public display of personal identity was not backed by law nor justified under the stated goals of maintaining public order or ensuring food safety.
The matter is likely to be heard by a bench comprising Justices M.M. Sundresh and N.K. Singh on July 15, according to reports by The Tribune and Bar & Bench.
Apoorvanand and Patel, along with Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra, were also among the original petitioners in the 2024 case. Their fresh petition reiterates that any state action infringing on personal privacy must pass the four-fold constitutional test of legitimate aim, suitability, necessity, and proportionality, a threshold the current directives allegedly fail to meet.
The petition describes the new requirements as “discriminatory and stigmatising,” pointing out that standard licensing procedures already require internal display of owner details and that this information need not be prominently exposed to the public. The move, it argues, goes beyond legal norms and amounts to identity-based targeting, particularly given the communal sensitivities around the Kanwar Yatra.
“The requisite license is a self-contained certificate which, although it reveals the name of the owner, is displayed inside the premises. Equating this with the directive to display the owner’s name, manager’s name, and employee names on billboards outside or to avoid eatery names that obscure religious identity is entirely outside the scope of existing licensing laws,” the petition states.
The plea seeks an urgent interim stay on the implementation of these orders, warning that they could lead to communal profiling and compromise both the safety and dignity of business owners along the pilgrimage route.
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Teen killed after being hit by private bus in Bengaluru
Bengaluru (PTI): A 16-year-old boy was killed after he was allegedly hit and run over by a private bus while crossing a road here on Friday, police said.
The deceased was identified as Varun, they said.
According to police, the accident occurred around 11:30 am on the Hennur–Bagalur main road.
The boy who crossing the road on foot when he was allegedly struck by the bus and came under its rear wheel, leading to his death on the spot.
He was rushed to a nearby hospital, where he was declared brought dead.
Following the incident, family members and locals staged a protest by blocking the Hennur–Bagalur road, resulting in heavy traffic congestion in the area.
The driver of the bus has been detained, and further legal action is being initiated, a senior police officer said, adding that an investigation is underway.
