* Publishing Photographs Of Defaulters In Newspapers Illegal: Kerala High Court* The Kerala High Court has held as arbitrary and illegal the decision of the State Bank of India to publish the photographs of loan defaulters in newspapers. Allowing writ petitions filed by two defaulters against the SBI notice, the court on Tuesday observed that the threat held out by banks to publish the photographs of defaulters in newspapers lacked legislative sanction. Justice V. Chitambaresh said: “The practice of exhibiting a photograph of a person and shamming him in public for the sin of being in an impecunious condition cannot be encouraged in civilised societies like ours.” The judge further observed that there was nothing immoral in their failure to repay the loans owing to a floundering business or other unavoidable reasons. The court added that some of the borrowers might even be driven to commit suicide fearing ignominy on account of their photographs being published in newspapers. “It will remain a permanent taboo for their family,” the court observed. The move was clearly an “affront to the right to live with dignity and honour as well as the right to privacy of the loanees”. Such publication of photographs therefore, violates the rights guaranteed to the loanees under Article 21 of the Constitution of India, the court held.
Posted on: Sat, 17 Aug 2013 02:28:44 +0000