Mumbai, July 3, 2026: In a sharp rebuke to the use of police powers against dissent, the Bombay High Court on Thursday observed that citizens cannot be treated as “slaves of the Indian Government” and emphasised their fundamental right to protest and agitate against government decisions. Justice Madhav Jamdar made the remarks while quashing a one-year externment order issued by Mumbai Police against Saeed Ahmad Abdul Wahid Chaudhary, General Secretary of the Socialist Democratic Party of India (SDPI). Chaudhary had been externed from Mumbai and adjoining areas over multiple FIRs linked to his participation in protests and dharnas against central government policies, including amendments to the Citizenship Act and issues related to the Gyanvapi Masjid dispute.
 
 
 “All citizens are being made slaves of Indian Government. They cannot stage protests, they cannot agitate — what is all this? Now so many papers have been leaked. If people protest, you will slap cases... What is this? It is the right of the citizens to protest,” Justice Jamdar observed orally during the hearing. The judge further questioned the grounds for the externment, noting the petitioner had merely raised slogans such as “BJP Government Murdabad” and “Amit Shah Murdabad”. “Why citizens can’t raise such slogans? Why externment orders for such slogans?” he asked. The court held that opposing government decisions or organising peaceful protests does not justify externment orders. It ruled that the action appeared to lack sufficient evidence of violence or threat to public order and described the police’s approach as treating citizens as subjects rather than rights-bearing individuals. Police, the judge reminded, are public servants, not “servants of the chief minister or prime minister.”  
 
 
 
The order was set aside, allowing Chaudhary to return without restrictions.This ruling comes amid growing debates over the space for dissent, frequent use of sedition-like provisions, and cases related to paper leaks and political agitations across the country. Legal observers have welcomed the observations as a strong reaffirmation of constitutional rights under Articles 19(1)(a) and 19(1)(b) — freedom of speech and the right to assemble peacefully. The Maharashtra government and Mumbai Police have not issued an immediate response to the court’s remarks. #BombayHighCourt #RightToProtest #FreedomOfSpeech #Dissent