A vacation bench of the top court was hearing a petition by the Yogi Adityanath government, challenging an order earlier this week by the Allahabad High Court asking the government for the immediate removal of the ‘name and shame’ posters and hoardings put up across Lucknow. The case has been referred to a three-judge bench, with the Supreme Court not putting a stay on the high court’s order.

Defending its action, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing Uttar Pradesh, argued that the hoardings were put up after following process of law, and that it was put up as a deterrent. It directed the top court registry to put up the case file before Chief Justice of India (CJI) SA Bobde so that a “bench of sufficient strength can be constituted at the earliest to hear and consider” the case next week.

The Uttar Pradesh government’s lawyers said the hoardings won’t be removed for now as the case has been referred to a larger bench.

Sources said the hoardings – in which the persons named were asked to pay for damage to public property and warned that their property would be attached otherwise – were put up on instructions of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.

The wrong-doer must be brought to book. But can the state go beyond that?” Justice UU Lalit observed, asking if the state government has the power to put up such hoardings.

On Monday, the Allahabad High Court cited the Right to Privacy as a fundamental human right recognised by the United Nations as well as the Supreme Court, and said the government’s move to display photographs and personal details of the accused on roadside hoardings was “an unwarranted interference in privacy”.

The court had also asked the Lucknow administration to give a compliance report on the removal of the hoardings to the registrar general by March 16.

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They said 2,193 people have been either detained or arrested in connection with the riots. Of them, 50 have been arrested on charges under the Arms Act.

Meanwhile, a 27-year-old man was arrested for allegedly being involved in another man’s death during the violence. The crime branch, probing the murder cases registered during the riots, arrested Shahnawaz for allegedly killing Dilbar Singh Negi, 20, and is trying to identify other suspects in the case.

Negi’s, whose decapitated and charred body was found in Brahmpuri on 26 February, had come to the National Capital six months ago from Uttarakhand’s Pauri Garhwal and worked at a sweet shop in northeast Delhi.

A Delhi court allowed police three more days’ custodial interrogation of Shahrukh Pathan, who allegedly pointed a gun at an unarmed police head constable during the riots in Maujpur.

Pathan, 23, whose photograph pointing a gun at head constable Deepak Dahia had gone viral on social media, was arrested on Tuesday from Uttar Pradesh’s Shamli district.

The pistol he pointed at Dahia was recovered from his home in northeast Delhi’s Ghonda. In a viral video, Pathan was seen pointing his pistol at the policeman on Jaffrabad-Maujpur road on 24 February. After opening fire in the air, he kept the pistol at his residence and fled from the city in a car.

Police said after seeing himself on TV news channels, Pathan changed his clothes and fled to Punjab. He then moved to Bareilly in Uttar Pradesh before hiding at a friend’s residence in Shamli in the state.

Uttar Pradesh police said they have arrested an alleged drug trafficker suspected to have helped Pathan escape from Delhi after the riots. Kaleem, 28, was wanted by the Narcotics Cell of Delhi police in a cannabis smuggling case.

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On the violence in Delhi, President Trump said he did not discuss “individual attacks” and those were “up to India”.

“We did talk about religious freedom. I will say that the Prime Minister was incredible and he told me that he wants people to have religious freedom. He told me that in India they have worked very hard to have great and open religious freedom. If we look back and look at what’s going relative to other places…they have really worked hard on religious freedom,” Mr Trump said.

Asked about his position on the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), the US President said, I don’t want to say anything on that. It is up to India. I hope it will take the right decision for its people.”

At a news conference, Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla said the new citizenship law did not come up during talks between PM Modi and Mr Trump, noting the two leaders talked about religious harmony in a “positive way”.

“The issue of CAA did not come up, but with regard to what you mentioned, the term religious freedom, there was appreciation from both sides that pluralism and diversity are a common binding factor of both the countries,” he added.

Meanwhile India and the US on Tuesday finalised defence deals worth $3 billion under which 30 military helicopters will be procured from two American defence majors for Indian armed forces.
The announcement on the deals were made by US President Donald Trump after his wide-ranging talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Talking about convergence of interests between the two countries, Modi said he and Trump have decided to raise the India-US ties to the level of a comprehensive global strategic partnership.

Under a $2.6 billion deal, India will buy 24 MH-60 Romeo helicopters from Lockheed Martin for the Indian Navy. Another contract to acquire six AH-64E Apache helicopters for $800 million from aerospace giant Boeing has also been sealed.

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Shops were burnt and people armed with sticks and rods were on streets in Bhajanpura, Chand Bagh and Karawal Nagar in northeast Delhi, which saw clashes between protesters for and against the controversial citizenship law spiral into unprecedented violence in the capital yesterday. The Union Home Ministry ruled out calling the army, saying adequate central forces and police are on the ground, said government sources.
Over 6,000 police and paramilitary personnel have been deployed along the stretch. This evening, police resorted to using tear gas shells in Chand Bagh to control the clashes.

The Union Home ministry has asked for no provocative statements to be made and said that Delhi’s borders with Uttar Pradesh and Haryana are being monitored to ensure no anti-social elements take advantage of the situation.

“The police personnel could not do anything because they were not getting orders from their seniors. I will raise this with Amit Shah-ji. They can’t decide whether there should be tear-gassing or lathi-charging without orders from above,” Mr Arvind Kejriwal ,Dehli CM had told reporters before his meeting.

A total of 67 companies, each with about 70 to 100 personnel, have been deployed in the Northeast district, including police and paramilitary forces. “We have enough forces on the ground. Senior police officials are constantly monitoring the situation,” said Delhi Police’s MS Randhawa this evening. “The Home Ministry is continuously supporting us. We have adequate force in place. We deny the allegations of not enough forces,” said Delhi Police chief Amulya Patnaik.

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Hundreds of protesters, young and old, gathered in the mall in the New Territories town of Sha Tin, chanting: “Fight for freedom” and “Liberate Hong Kong.”Protesters also called for a boycott of businesses in the Chinese-ruled city seen as pro-Beijing and made a paper chain of receipts from those stores, which were then hung across the mall.

Activists rounded on a man believed to have opposed them when they had damaged the Chinese flag. Shouting, they pushed him into a corner beside the station and cheered as crowds punched and kicked him.After 20 minutes, he managed to walk away, dazed and bleeding from the forehead. Protesters also smashed video cameras and ticket booths in the station.

Some started to trash fittings at the entrance of the mall itself. The protesters spilled outside where they lit barricades made of cardboard, broken palm trees and other debris.Police warned they would fire tear gas.Violence has hit parts of the former British colony at different times over more than three months, but life goes on as normal for most people most of the time.

However, pictures of petrol bombs and street clashes broadcast worldwide present a huge embarrassment for Beijing just days ahead of the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic on Oct. 1.The Hong Kong government has already called off a big fireworks display to mark the day in case of further clashes. China, which has a People’s Liberation Army garrison in Hong Kong, has said it has faith in Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam to solve the crisis.

There was also a noisy standoff between protesters and police at the Tsing Yi interchange station, which serves the Airport Express and the metro, which had been closed due to plans to block roads around the station.Police fired tear gas to disperse protesters who threw petrol bombs in two new towns on Saturday after pro-China groups pulled down some anti-government graffiti. There were violent clashes elsewhere in the city.

Police condemned the violence and said there had been many serious injuries in clashes between people of “different views”.The protesters are angry about what they see as creeping Chinese interference in Hong Kong, which returned to China in 1997 under a “one country, two systems” formula intended to guarantee freedoms that are not enjoyed on the mainland.

China says it is committed to the arrangement and denies meddling. It has accused foreign governments including the United States and Britain of inciting the unrest.Hong Kong police earlier prevented a protest targeting the airport.

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