Mumbai: The Bombay High Court has quashed a one-year externment order passed by the Mumbai Police against local political leader Saeed Ahmad Abdul Wahid Chaudhary, holding that a person cannot be externed merely for participating in protests and agitations against the government.
Justice Madhav Jamdar, in an order passed on Thursday, said externing Chaudhary only for opposing certain decisions of the Government of India affected his fundamental rights, including freedom of speech and expression and the right to live with dignity under the Constitution.
Chaudhary, general secretary of the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI), had challenged the externment order issued by the Deputy Commissioner of Police in December 2025. According to his plea, the proceedings were initiated on the basis of several FIRs registered between 2019 and 2024 for protests against issues such as the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), National Register of Citizens (NRC), the Babri Masjid and the Gyanvapi mosque. Most of the FIRs were registered under Section 188 of the IPC for allegedly holding protests without police permission.
Opposing the plea, the State argued that the protests were held despite permission being refused by the police. It contended that the externment action was in accordance with law.
After examining the FIRs, however, the court found that they mainly related to slogans raised against the government and observed that there was no material to show that Chaudhary's protests had caused or were likely to cause "alarm, danger or harm to person or property."
Questioning the police action, Justice Jamdar asked, "Why externment orders for slogans? Can't citizens raise such slogans? Why can't citizens protest against government actions and decisions?" Referring to a recent exam paper leak case, he further remarked that citizens have a right to protest and express dissent.
"It is the right of the citizens to protest... Why can't citizens raise such slogans and why externment orders for such slogans?" the judge said, while cautioning the police that they were servants of the public and not of top government functionaries.
The judge also made a lighter remark on the prevailing political climate, referring to allegations of "horse trading" in Maharashtra. He quipped that the petitioner could consider switching sides because there was a "washing machine."
In its order, the court described the externment proceedings as "vitiated" and "mala fide". It held that the allegations were limited to offences under Section 188 of the IPC, punishable with a maximum sentence of one month, which could not justify an externment order under the Maharashtra Police Act.
Calling externment an "extraordinary measure" that curtails a citizen's right to free movement, Justice Jamdar held that "the action taken by the State of Maharashtra of externing the petitioner, merely for opposing certain decisions of the Government of India, affects the petitioner's fundamental right of freedom of speech and expression and also right to live with dignity." The court accordingly quashed the externment order.
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