Kanwar yatra food directive is unconstitutional – and the police know this

A police directive in Uttar Pradesh’s Muzaffarnagar district asking eateries and food stalls along the Kanwar Yatra pilgrimage route to display the names of their owners and staff has sparked outrage.

Political leaders, civil rights activists and lawyers have criticised the directive as unconstitutional and discriminatory. Many have asked under which law have the police issued the instructions.

As it turns out, the police have not invoked any law – they have cleverly avoided issuing a formal written order on the matter.

A statement of the Muzaffarnagar police circulating on the internet states that the managers of food outlets along the Kanwar yatra route have been “requested” to “voluntarily” display the names of their owners and staff. However, the very next sentence in the statement refers to this as an “order”.

Speaking to television crews, Abhishek Singh, Muzaffarnagar’s senior superintendent of police, too used similarly ambiguous language. Singh said that food vendors have been “instructed” to display the names of the owner and staff and that everyone is “voluntarily” following these instructions.

In India, where the police have a track record of using extraordinary coercive powers over citizens both within and outside the bounds of law, citizens realistically have no choice but to follow such advisories.

However, in the absence of a written order, it is harder to...

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