A Division Bench of the Kerala High Court, on Tuesday, dismissed an appeal filed against a Single Judge’s verdict rejecting a plea for a directive to remove the photograph of Prime Minister Narendra Modi from paid Covid vaccine certificates. 

The Bench comprising Chief Justice S Manikumar and Justice Shaji P Chali upheld the Single Judge’s verdict while dismissing an appeal filed by Peter from Kottayam. The Single Judge had also imposed a cost of ₹1 lakh on the petitioner. 

Dismissing the plea, the Single Judge had observed that it was a frivolous petition filed with ulterior motives. The Single Judge had observed that once a Prime Minister was elected as per the Constitution, he was “the Hon’ble Prime Minister of our country and that post should be the pride of every citizen, whether the Prime Minister is “X” or “Y”.” 

When the country was facing a pandemic situation and the Prime Minister gave a message in the vaccination certificate with his photographs to boost the morale of the citizen, “I do not understand why the petitioner says before this Court that it is an intrusion to his privacy”, the Single Judge had observed. 

The Single Judge had added that if the petitioner did not want to see his Prime Minister or if he was ashamed to see the picture of his Prime Minister, “he can avert his eyes to the bottom side of the vaccine certificate”. 

“The citizen need not be ashamed to carry a vaccination certificate with the photograph of the Prime Minister with a morale boosting message, especially in this pandemic situation. There is no infringement of a fundamental right or any other right like compelled viewing”, the Single Judge had observed. 

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