The Uttar Pradesh government has decided to put up posters of 27 people wanted in connection with the November 24 violence during a mosque survey in Sambhal district, four years after the Supreme Court had directed the Yogi Adityanath dispensation to call off a similar name-and-shame drive during the height of the anti-CAA protests.

Four persons died of bullet injuries when a mob clashed with police during a court-ordered survey of the Jama Masjid that some petitioners had claimed had been built by demolishing a temple during the reign of Mughal emperor Babur.

The BJP government also wants to seize the assets of the accused to recover the cost of the properties damaged during the violence.

“We have processed pictures of 27 rioters from video footage obtained from CCTV and drone cameras. We will put up their posters in Sambhal district so that they can be traced and arrested. We will also start the process of recovery from them for the damage they have caused to public and private properties,” said a home department official in state headquarters Lucknow on condition of anonymity.

Earlier, Sambhal superintendent of police Krishna Kumar had said: “We are developing passport-size pictures of some of the accused persons and will circulate them. We expect people to come forward and help us arrest them. We will reward the people for this.”

The Supreme Court had in 2020 ordered the Adityanath government to bring down the name-and-shame posters of those allegedly involved in violent protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act. The apex court had told the state government that there was “no law” that backed its action of putting up pictures of accused persons, along with personal details, on roadsides. The court said it was a violation of Article 21 of the Constitution that provides protection of life and personal liberty, and that it amounted to interference in the privacy of people.

Many of those whose pictures had been put up had been jailed later but were exonerated by the courts.

There is a provision in law to display pictures of absconding accused persons at police stations provided a court has issued a warrant against them. But the practice of putting up hoardings and posters with the purpose of naming and shaming accused persons was started by the Adityanath government.

Later, the government passed the UP Recovery of Damage to Public and Private Properties Act, 2020, to expedite the process of recovery equal to the amount of damage inflicted. However, the law still is that the court will decide whether the allegations of rioting and damage of property hold and whether the assets of the accused can be attached.

The Opposition in Uttar Pradesh has accused the Adityanath government of taking arbitrary actions against citizens even before the courts reach a conclusion.

The state government has not clarified how it will go about the latest name-and-shame drive. “We will follow the procedure and soon put up posters of all the accused persons. They were seen in video footage damaging CCTVs and vehicles and we have to make them pay for it, and pay for it soon.”

Sambhal police have made local Samajwadi Party MP Zia-ur-Rahman Barq and Sohail Iqbal, the son of local MLA Iqbal Masood of the same party, the first and second accused in an FIR registered in connection with the violence. Both Barq and Masood have denied the allegations and dared the police to provethe charges.

The police claim that the rioters belonged to rival groups and had fired at each other. “The groups had been feuding over control of the mosque. Some policemen have also suffered injuries from bullets fired from illegal pistols,” Kumar, the Sambhal police chief, said.

The Samajwadi Party alleged that the four deaths had been caused by police firing. “Policemen were seen firing on the people. There were also policemen in civil dress who used illegal weapons. Anything can happen under the current dispensation,” party president and former chief minister Akhilesh Yadav said.

“I want to go to Sambhal to see the situation but the government is preventing me from doing so. What is there that the government wants to hide?” Akhilesh asked, claiming that BJP activists had accompanied officials who had gone for the survey on November 24.

Some people accompanying the court-appointed survey commission to the Jama Masjid had set up a triumphal chant of “Jai Shri Ram” to irritate Muslims, in the presence of the senior police and district officials, multiple Opposition MPs in Uttar Pradesh have alleged.

The police, the local administration and a Sambhal resident have filed 11 FIRs so far in connection with the case.

“We want the DM and the SP to be suspended and booked. They, along with members of the commission and those accompanying them, should be booked and arrested immediately ifthe government wants to conduct an impartial probe,” Akhilesh said.

Samajwadi general secretary Ram Gopal Yadav said: “A delegation of our party will visit Sambhal on Thursday.”

However, the local administration has said they wouldn’t allow politicians to visit the place at the moment because it could further disturb peace.

Schools and markets that were closed after the violence in Sambhal town reopenedon Wednesday.