Kochi: The Kerala High Court on Monday criticized a petitioner who challenged the photograph of Prime Minister Narendra Modi affixed on the COVID-19 vaccination certificates, for wasting judicial time. The Court asked why the petitioner is ashamed of our Prime Minister and stated that if it doesn’t find any merit in the petitioner’s contentions, then the court will dispose of the petition.
The plea was submitted by an RTI activist named Peter Myaliparampil and the case was considered by single bench of Justice PV Kunhikrishnan. ‘He is our Prime Minister, not the Prime Minister of any other country. He came to power through our mandate. Merely because you have political differences, you cannot challenge this. Why are you ashamed of our Prime Minister? 100 crore people don’t seem to have an issue with this so why do you? Everyone has different political opinions. You are wasting judicial time’, the judge noted.
By pointing out that the petitioner was the state-level master coach of the Jawaharlal Nehru Leadership Institute of New Delhi, the court asked- ‘you work at an Institute named after a Prime Minister. Why don’t you ask the university to remove it?’
In the plea, the petitioner had said that he had received the paid Covid-19 vaccination from a private hospital and thereafter received a vaccination certificate. The certificate had the Prime Minister’s colour photograph and the message which read ‘medicine and strict controls (written in Malayalam), together India will defeat COVID-19 (in English)’ with attribution to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
‘The national campaign against Covid-19 is being converted into a media campaign for the Prime Minister. The petitioner also addressed a representation to the Central government for a vaccine certificate without the PM’s photograph but did not receive any response. Government messaging and campaigns, especially when it uses government funds, should not personify any leader of the political party. This affects the petitioner’s independent choice of voting, which has been recognized as the essence of the electoral system in People’s Union for Civil Liberties vs Union of India’, the petition noted.
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The petition further pointed out that according to the guidelines laid down by the Supreme Court for campaigns using public money in Common Cause vs. Union of India, no individual can be credited for the launch of an initiative or be celebrated for achievements of a certain policy of the State on government expense’.
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