Standing tall at about ten feet, recently repaired and decorated with colors, the wall around Central Boys High School in main town Pulwama stands defaced by the advertisement posters of coaching institutes and pesticide manufacturing companies.
With no one to stop people from pasting such posters, almost every goverment building can be seen covered with multi-coloured hoardings and posters, hence defacing the public property.
“I saw hundreds of posters and banners on the wall of this school, I thought people may have taken permission from the concerned authorities and I honestly don’t even know that this wall is guarding a goverment school, so I stopped my car and pasted a banner of the company I work for.” Said a young boy whom we stopped and asked about the permission of pasting a banner on the wall of a goverment building.
“I thought there is nothing wrong in pasting those banners on goverment buildings, otherwise I would have stopped people from doing so. I have never been to a school and I know nothing about such laws.” Said an elderly tea stall owner who sells tea near one such goverment building which is completely covered by the banners.
What does law say about sticking posters in public places?
The Delhi High Court has ordered that sticking posters in public places is a criminal offence which can land the offender in jail under two sections of Indian Penal Code (IPC).
Such offenders can be booked under Section 425 and Section 434 of IPC.
If found guilty, the accused can be sent to prison for one year.
The direction was given after senior advocate Ram Jethmalani intervened during the hearing of a public interest litigation (PIL) related to posters defacing public places and properties.
