Court says, "It is citizen’s duty to respect the PM"

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• Dec 22, 2021 | moderator

Thiruvananthapuram: The Kerala High Court dismissed a plea challenging the use of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s photo on Covid vaccine certificates and further imposed a fine of Rs 1 lakh on the litigant.

Schooling the petitioner that it is the citizen’s duty to respect their Prime Minister and one should not indulge in whimsical issues, the court said, “It is the duty of the citizens to respect their Prime Minister. Though there can be ideological and political differences with respect to implementing certain policies for the people’s welfare, one can address the citizens saying that what the Government under the leadership of the Prime Minister is doing is against the people's goodwill. But the citizens need not feel abashed if their vaccine certificates carried the photo of their Prime Minister with a morale-boosting message, especially in this pandemic situation.”

“There is no infringement of fundamental right or any other right like compelled viewing, etc in such a situation as alleged by the petitioner,” said the single-judge bench of Justice P V Kunhikrishnan, while dismissing the plea, terming it a “frivolous and a politically motivated agenda”.

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The petition was filed by an RTI activist, Peter Myaliparambil, who mentioned in his litigation that the photograph of the Prime Minister in the vaccination certificate is an intrusion of his privacy.

The litigation also mentioned that the BJP-led government also conducted a nationwide campaign on PM Modi’s birthday, calling for a record number of vaccinations across the country, as a gift to the people by being administered free vaccinations.

Appearing on behalf of the petitioner, advocate Ajit Joy stated in his argument that the photo of PM Modi on vaccine certificates, carried no utility or relevance. “It was needles intrusion into the private space of the petitioner as the photo of the Prime Minister had no relevance with the vaccination drive,” argued the advocate.

Assistant Solicitor General of India (ASGI) S Manu, who appeared on behalf of the Government of India dismissed the petition stating that the vaccine certificate carried a message and there is nothing wrong in the Prime Minister’s photo being used therefore.

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“The certificate was addressing the nation and the photo of Prime Minister on the document would just amplify the message, not intrude into anyone’s private space,” argued S Manu.

Angered by the petition, the court said, “The petitioner should learn how to respect the country’s Prime Minister by watching at least the parliamentary proceedings, which are available live on national TV.”