PETER MYALIPARAMPIL Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This writ petition is filed with a prayer to declare that affixing the photograph of the Hon'ble Prime Minister of India in the COVID-19 Vaccination Certificate of the petitioner is an infringement of his fundamental right. There is a further prayer to issue appropriate direction to the 1st respondent to issue the petitioner a COVID-19 vaccination certificate without the photograph of the Hon'ble Prime Minister in it, along with access to the COWIN platform, to generate such a certificate when needed.

(2.) The petitioner claims that he is an RTI activist and one of the State Coordinators of the National Campaign for the Peoples Right to Information (NCPRI). The petitioner also claims that he is an extension faculty of Kerala Institute of Local Administration and State Level master coach of the Jawaharlal Nehru Leadership Institute, New Delhi. It is the case of the petitioner that he was desirous of taking a vaccination against the Covid 19 pandemic. Since the Government of Kerala came out with a Government Order prohibiting non-vaccinated persons from visiting public places, the petitioner decided to get vaccination immediately. When the petitioner enter the COWIN (https://www.cowin.gov.in/ ) app/site and upon registration in the COWIN app, the petitioner secured a slot for a paid vaccination in a private hospital in Kottayam District at Kerala on 4/8/2021. It is the case of the petitioner that, at the time of entry into COWIN portal, the petitioner was exposed to the landing page showing the colour picture of the Hon'ble Prime Minister of India Sri.Narendra Modi, along with a message, "ARE YOU PROTECTED AGAINST COVID-19?" both in English and Hindi. The printout of the screenshot of the landing page of the COWIN site is marked as Ext P1 in this writ petition. The petitioner took the first dose of Covid 19 and he was administered with the COVISHIELD vaccine by paying an amount of Rs.750.00. It is the case of the petitioner that he was surprised to find that this certificate contains the colour photograph of the Hon'ble Prime Minister Sri.Narendra Modi! It is also the case of the petitioner that at the bottom half of the vaccination certificate, there is a message in the dual language of Malayalam and English with the words "MEDICINE AND STRICT CONTROLS" (in Malayalam) and "TOGETHER WITH INDIA WILL DEFEAT COVID-19" (in English). Below the above message, the name of the Hon'ble Prime Minister is mentioned. Ext P2 is the certificate. The petitioner produced Ext P3, the printout of the landing page of the website of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India and in it also a message has been widely mentioned as "largest vaccination campaign in the world" with a salute to the Hon'ble Prime Minister "Thank You P.M.Modi". It is the case of the petitioner that even on the birthday of the Hon'ble Prime Minister which was celebrated on 18/9/2021, a nationwide campaign was carried out calling for a record number of vaccinations to be administered as a gift to the person who was gifted free vaccines to India. Ext P4 is a printout of the screenshot of a Tweet of a Cabinet Minister in charge of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. The petitioner also produced Ext P5 which is a report in Economic Times E-Paper dtd. 15/9/2021. The report says that University Grants Commission (UGC) has asked the Government funded Universities and colleges to display banners and hoardings on free vaccination for all adults and a message thanking Prime Minister Narendra Modi for a free vaccination. Ext P6 is also a direction sent to Kendriya Vidyalaya Sanghathan, Bengaluru Region for schools in that region to display similar banners thanking the Hon'ble Prime Minister for the vaccinations for those above 18 years. Ext P7 is the landing page of the 1st respondent Aarogya Sethu App in which also the photograph of the Hon'ble Prime Minister is there with a message "largest vaccine drive" .

(3.) It is the case of the petitioner that the National Campaign against COVID-19 is being converted into a media campaign for the Hon'ble Prime Minister. According to the petitioner, the presence of the photograph of the Hon'ble Prime Minister in COVID-19 related campaigns and messaging in public places including Railway Stations, Airports, Post Offices, Banks along with the same messages in public websites and social media handles of Government entities, all with photograph and name of Hon'ble Prime Minister seems to him to be designed not for a health campaign. It is the case of the petitioner that it is an effort to show the campaign as a one man show, propaganda to project an individual at State expenses. The petitioner produced Ext P8 printout of the news item from the Indian Express which says that based on a complaint from a political party, the Election Commission of India directed the authorities to remove the Prime Minister's photo from the Covid jab certificate where States which are headed to poll. According to the petitioner, a vaccination certificate is bound to carry and produce while using public places, during travel, booking tickets, entry to restaurants, movie halls, etc. According to the petitioner, the photo of the Prime Minister in the certificate has no utility and relevance. The petitioner produced Exts P9(a) to (f) vaccination certificates of the United States of America, Indonesia, Israel, Kuwait, France, and Germany to show that in those countries the Prime Minister's photo is not affixed in the vaccination certificate. It is the definite case of the petitioner that he consider the photograph of the Hon'ble Prime Minister as a needless intrusion into the private space of the petitioner. Hence, the petitioner submitted Ext P10 before the 1st respondent to issue him with a certificate without the photograph of the Hon'ble Prime Minister. There was no response to Ext P10 and in such situation, the present writ petition is filed.