Read Time: 05 minutes

Justice P.V. Kunhikrishnan of the Kerala High Court on Tuesday dismissed the plea challenging the photograph of Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Covid-19 vaccination certificates issued to citizens.

The plea was filed by one Peter Myaliparambil, a Kottayam native. Myaliparambil contended that the present vaccine certificate violates the fundamental rights of a citizen and sought a certificate without the photo of the Prime Minister.

He has contended that he took the paid vaccine from a private hospital and receiving a certificate with the Prime Minister's photo on it, is in violation of his fundamental rights.

He further stated that the certificate is a private document and the Prime Minister’s photo on it serves no purpose. He produced certificates issued by other countries to evidence that they all carried necessary information, not photos of their heads of governments.

The petition said that the CoWIN portal should infact have an option wherein people can choose to not get a certificate with the Prime Minister’s photo on it.

Justice P.V. Kunhikrishnan while dismissing the plea observed:

"According to me, this is a frivolous petition filed with ulterior political motives and it seems to be a publicity motivated petition. Therefore, it deserved to be dismissed with a heavy cost. Petitioner to pay Rs. 1 lakh to the Kerala Legal Services Authority within a period of 6 weeks."

In an earlier hearing the Court had lashed out at the petitioner stating:

"He is our Prime Minister, not the Prime Minister of any other country. He came to power through our mandate. Merely because you have political differences, you cannot challenge this...Why are you ashamed of our PM? 100 crore people don't seem to have an issue with this so why do you? Everyone has different political opinions. You are wasting judicial time."

Earlier, the Central Government has defended its decision of putting the Prime Minister’s photo on the certificate, with the Minister of State for Health BP Pawar telling the Rajya Sabha that, "The photograph along with his words reinforces the message for creating awareness and importance of following Covid-appropriate behaviour even after the vaccination. It was done in the larger public interest."

Cause Title: Peter Myaliparampil vs Union of India & Anr.