'How Can Slogans Be Ground For Externment': Bombay HC Quashes Maharashtra Police Order Against SDPI Leader

Last Updated:July 03, 2026, 13:47 IST

The Bombay High Court has quashed an order of externment from Mumbai and adjoining areas against Saeed Ahmad Abdul Wahid Chaudhary for raising slogans against PM Modi and Amit Shah

Asserting that merely holding protests and sloganeering against the government cannot be grounds for a criminal punishment, the Bombay High Court on Thursday quashed an externment order issued by the Maharashtra police, Live Law reported. The court was hearing a plea by Saeed Ahmad Abdul Wahid Chaudhary, the General Secretary of the Social Democratic Party of India, against the police order.

The single-judge bench of Justice Madhav Jamdar also orally remarked that the complainant might be facing these charges and the externment because he belongs to a particular party which is not aligned with the ruling government. Had the complainant joined the ruling dispensation, he might have been allowed to go scot free.

The case relates to Saeed allegedly raising slogans against the Prime Minister and Home Minister at protests organised against the Citizenship Amendment Act and the National Register of Citizens. “How can such slogans become a ground for externment," the court asked Maharashtra police during the hearing, as per the report.

In a strongly worded remark against the government, which it alleged has been trying to curb protests, the court said that “citizens were being made the slaves of the Indian government".

“Police are not servants of the chief minister or the prime minister. They are public servants. Are these cases registered against him because he is from some other party? Let him also switch sides and all such cases will go. Horse-trading is happening across the country," the court said, as quoted by Bar and Bench.

Saeed had been externed by the Maharashtra Police for a year from Mumbai and adjoining areas. Externment is when someone is ordered out of a place and prevented from returning.

This action was taken against him following protests against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah in the wake of the passing of the controversial Citizenship Amendment Act in 2019. Saeed had been actively organising protests against the government since then.

During the protests, Saeed had allegedly raised slogans such as “BJP government Murdabad" and “Amit Shah Murdabad".

Posing a question to the police, Justice Jamdar pointed out that now protests are happening across the country over the NEET and other paper leaks. “Will you pass such orders against them too?"

Raising the question whether the complainant was being targeted for being associated with a political party, the single-judge bench remarked, “Are these cases registered against him because he is from some other party? Let him also switch sides and all such cases will go. Horse-trading is happening across the country."

Reportedly, Justice Jamdar, in jest, asked the complainant to consider shifting political allegiance to get rid of the cases filed against him. He said there is a “washing machine" in the state.

The court declared the actions of the police to be mala fide. He also said that citizens not only have the freedom to express their opinions but also to live with dignity under articles 19 and 21 of the Indian Constitution.

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