Bombay HC quashes externment, says protest slogans not ground for ban
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Mumbai: The Bombay High Court on Thursday quashed an externment order against political activist Saeed Ahmad Abdul Wahid Chaudhary, ruling that shouting slogans against the government does not justify expelling a citizen from a city.
Justice Madhav Jamdar set aside a December order by the Chembur deputy commissioner of police that had directed Chaudhary, Maharashtra general secretary of the Socialist Democratic Party of India, to stay away from Mumbai and surrounding areas for one year. The order followed multiple FIRs filed between 2019 and 2024 after protests Chaudhary organised on issues including the Citizenship Amendment Act, the National Register of Citizens, alleged waqf board corruption and fuel price hikes.
The judge questioned why slogans such as “BJP government murdabad” and “Amit Shah murdabad” should attract an externment order and observed that police officers are accountable to the public, not to ministers. The court found that the externment infringed Chaudhary’s fundamental rights to freedom of speech and expression and to live with dignity.
Externment proceedings had been initiated under the Maharashtra Police Act on grounds that Chaudhary’s activities “created fear and posed a danger to public order.” The deputy commissioner’s order was earlier upheld on appeal by the divisional commissioner of the Konkan division. Chaudhary had challenged both orders in the High Court.
The bench noted that many recent protests across the country — including demonstrations over the NEET paper leak — raised the question whether similar externment orders would be issued against other protesters.