In a State where posters pasted by the militant outfits on the walls of the religious and other public places often send shock waves and scare away locals from coming closer to the security forces for sharing information a recent poster purportedly pasted by the J&K Housing Board authorities on the walls of the green belt park in Jammu is making waves for all the wrong reasons.
The poster, whose authenticity could not be verified, warns against playing games in a public park in Channi-Himmat and also threatens to prosecute the guilty.
The notice is read as “This is not a play ground. Playing games is strictly prohibited. Any body found guilty shall be prosecuted”.
Ever since this poster has surfaced in the public park it has left all those regular visitors high and dry as they could not understand the logic behind circulating the notice warning prosecution for playing games.
“When I first saw the poster during my morning walk here in the park i really could not digest the fact that any one could really be prosecuted for committing a crime of playing games in a park” a senior citizen told The Pioneer.
Pointing towards inadequacies in the said poster and whether it could withstand any legal scrutiny a senior legal luminary, also a regular visitor to the green park said, “the poster makes no reference whether any formal order under relevant sections of any State law has been issued before issuing a warning to the guilty”. He said any officer who has okayed this vague notice has failed to apply his mind.
This notice is also causing lot of anxiety among the parents whose children prefer playing outdoor games to stay fit than spending time in front of their computer screens or playing video games.
A concerned parent sharing his genuine concern told The Pioneer, “these days majority of open places are booked by business houses to organise trade fairs, handloom/craft melas, then various spiritual gurus book these grounds for organising religious meetings, leaving very little open spaces for children to play games”.
Another parent said on one hand different security agencies have been investing hefty amount in organising different tournaments in their area of operation to win over the support of youth and helping them to join the mainstream instead of joining the ranks of militant outfits and on the other hand such posters are preventing children from indulging in sporting activities.
In December 2015 a division bench of the state High Court had dismissed an application filed by the Jammu Municipal corporation, Commissioner seeking permission to construct multi tier parking facility in the parade ground, only open space in the walled city.
The Division Bench had also observed that Apex Court had held that a Public Park or a playground was to promote health of the community by means of ventilation and recreation. “Keeping of playgrounds and public parks is paramount for the future generations of the city and the same cannot be permitted to be converted as a car parking as prayed for and if the same is allowed the purpose for which the open space available in the playground in a planned city was allotted or earmarked will be defeated”.