MUMBAI: Bombay high court on Thursday quashed an externment order against the office-bearer of a party who organised public protests on issues such as the Citizenship Act amendments and said mere opposition to a govt decision cannot be grounds to force a person out of his surroundings.Justice Madhav Jamdar quizzed the prosecution as to why an year-long externment (keeping a person out of a specific jurisdiction) was ordered against Saeed Ahmad Chaudhary, general secretary of the Socialist Democratic Party of India (SDPI), by citing five FIRs lodged against him, most of them for staging protests against the central govt.The prosecutor mentioned the slogans raised by him. The judge then referred to the FIR and exhibits presented against Chaudhary and said the petitioner “just raised slogans like ‘BJP Govt murdabad’…‘Amit Shah murdabad’. Can’t citizens raise such slogans? Why externment orders for slogans?”“What is this? Are all citizens being made slaves of Indian Govt… can they not stage protests, or agitate – what is all this?,” said Justice Jamdar.In his order, the single-judge bench said, “The petitioner acting in his capacity has arranged morchas and dharnas against certain decisions taken by the Government of India. That cannot be a ground for a person to be externed under the Maharashtra Police Act. The action taken is mala fide.”Chaudhary, 49, had organised protests against amendments to the Citizenship Act and on the Gyanvapi Masjid issue among other decisions involving the Centre.The HC order said, “As per the Articles 19 and 21 of the Constitution of India not only citizens have the freedom to express their opinion but also to live with dignity. The action taken by the respondents against the petitioner for merely opposing certain decisions of the Government of India affects his fundamental rights.’’The judge said that it was the right of the citizen to raise his voice on issues of public interest. “Now so many papers have been leaked. If people protest, you will slap cases? …It is the right of the citizens to protest,” Justice Jamdar remarked and asked, “Why citizens can’t raise such slogans?”The court also observed that police officers were public servants and “not servants of the Chief Minister or the Prime Minister”. It was the deputy commissioner of police (Zone 6), Mumbai, and the divisional commissioner, Konkan Division, respectively, who had passed orders on Dec 3, 2025 and March 27, 2026 to extern the man for a year.
