Kerala HC nixes plea to remove PM’s photo on vaccine certificates

The Kerala High Court on Tuesday dismissed a petition challenging the photograph of Prime Minister Narendra Modi affixed on the Covid-19 vaccination certificates.

The court also imposed a fine of Rs 1 lakh on the petitioner which is to be paid to the Kerala Legal Services Authority within six weeks. “The petition seems to be filed with political motives and a publicity motivated petition. Therefore, it deserves to be dismissed with a heavy cost,” the High Court observed while dismissing the petition. The court further observed that while thousands of convicted persons are in Indian jails for criminal cases and are waiting for their appeal hearings, thousands for matrimonial disputes…so this court must consider this petition quickly. “In such a situation, such frivolous petitions must be dismissed with a heavy cost,” the court said.

The court criticised the petitioner for wasting judicial time, and asked: “Why are you ashamed of our Prime Minister?”

Single Bench of Justice P.V. Kunhikrishnan further remarked: “There is a general trend to a section of the citizens of our country that the political leaders are all corrupt people and they cannot be believed. I think, from this concept, these types of arguments are coming into the mind of the petitioner. But can anyone generalise like that? What is wrong with politicians? Since there is a small percentage of politicians are having a bad history, the entire politicians need not be ignored.”

There are excellent political leaders who have made great initiatives for the welfare of the country, calling them builders of our nation with innovative ideas, he added. Further, in his remarks, the Judge said, “The people elect the eligible persons among them and send them to the Parliament and the majority party will select their leader and he will be our Prime Minister for five years. Till the next general election, he will be the Prime Minister of India. Therefore, according to me, it is the duty of the citizens to respect the Prime Minister of India, and of course, they can differ on the policies of the Government and even the political stand of the Prime Minister.”

“The Prime Minister of India is not a person who entered the parliament house by breaking the roof of the parliament building. He came to power because of the mandate of the people. The Indian democracy is being praised by the world. The Prime Minister is elected because he has got people’s mandate,” he added. The plea was submitted by an RTI activist Peter Myaliparampil.