NEW DELHI:  On Tuesday, the Supreme Court issued a notice to the Uttar Pradesh government regarding a series of petitions that challenge its directive requiring eateries and dhabas along the Kanwar Yatra route to display QR codes with ownership details.

The court has requested a response from the state. The petitions, submitted by Delhi University professor Apoorvanand Jha and activist Aakar Patel, contend that the QR code requirement constitutes a digital form of religious profiling, which violates a prior Supreme Court ruling. In July 2023, the court had suspended similar directives from the governments of Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand, which mandated food vendors and hawkers to publicly display the names of their owners and staff.

“We find it appropriate to issue an interim order that prohibits the enforcement of the contested directives,” the court stated in that earlier ruling, emphasizing that vendors should only be required to disclose the type of food they serve, not the identities of those operating the businesses.

The current petition claims that the QR code initiative represents a “willful disobedience” of the court’s earlier decision. “These measures effectively achieve the same unconstitutional objective through digital means,” it asserted, referencing media reports that indicate the codes enable customers to access ownership information.

Additionally, it cautions about the “serious and imminent risk” of harm to the rights of affected vendors, especially those belonging to minority communities. “Ambiguous and overly broad directives intentionally conflate licensing requirements with the unlawful demand to reveal religious identity, creating opportunities for violent enforcement… by vigilante groups and authorities,” the petition stated.

The petitioners have called on the court to promptly restrain the Uttar Pradesh government from pursuing what they describe as an indirect execution of a previously blocked policy.