Bombay High Court Quashes Externment Order, Says Citizens ‘Cannot Be Made Slaves of the Government
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Summarized by AI; it may make mistakes. Check important info
The Bombay High Court has set aside the externment order issued against former Lok Sabha candidate and SDPI leader Saeed Ahmad Abdul Wahid Chaudhary, holding that the police action was mala fide the law.
During the hearing, Justice Madhav Jamdar sharply questioned the Mumbai Police's decision to extern Chaudhary from Mumbai and adjoining areas for one year.
Referring to the slogans allegedly raised by the petitioner, the judge asked why slogans against the government had been treated as grounds for externment.
“How can such slogans become a ground for externment,” Justice Jamdar asked the government, as per reports.
The court observed that democratic dissent cannot be curtailed through such measures and criticised the police for initiating proceedings against Chaudhary.
Justice Jamdar remarked that citizens cannot be made slaves of the central government and emphasised that the police are public servants, not servants of the Chief Minister or the Prime Minister.
The High Court also questioned whether the cases against Chaudhary were politically motivated.
“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 remarked.
Drawing parallels with recent protests, including demonstrations over the NEET paper leak, the Bench asked whether similar externment orders would be passed against those protesters as well.
Justice Jamdar further remarked that the petitioner could simply switch political sides to get the FIRs against him wiped clean through what he described as the government's “washing machine”.
The court observed that Articles 14 and 21 protect not only a citizen's right to express opinions but also the right to live with dignity, reaffirming that peaceful dissent is protected under the Constitution.
The case arose after Chaudhary, the 49-year-old General Secretary of the Socialist Democratic Party of India (SDPI), challenged a December 2025 externment order that barred him from entering Mumbai for one year.
