Citizens entitled to protest, BJP ‘murdabad’ slogan not grounds for externment: Bombay HC

Protesting against the decisions of the government or shouting slogans against it are not grounds to expel a citizen from an area, the Bombay High Court observed on Thursday while quashing an externment order against a political leader.

Justice Madhav Jamdar set aside an order issued by Chembur deputy commissioner of police in Mumbai that directed Maharashtra General Secretary of the Socialist Democratic Party of India Saeed Ahmad Abdul Wahid Chaudhary to stay out of the city and adjoining areas for one year.

During the hearing, the judge asked why slogans such as “BJP government murdabad”, or down with BJP government, and “Amit Shah murdabad” had attracted an externment order against Chaudhary, Bar and Bench reported.

The judge verbally observed that police officers are accountable to the public and not to ministers, the legal news outlet reported.

“The action taken [by the state] 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 judge held in his order.

The court also noted that there have been several protests in the country recently, including against the paper leak of the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test. “Will you pass such orders against them too?” the Hindustan Times quoted the...

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