'Are all citizens being made slaves of Indian govt': Bombay HC quashes externment order over CAA protests

The Bombay High Court has quashed an externment order issued against Saeed Ahmad Chaudhary, general secretary of the Socialist Democratic Party of India (SDPI), who had organised public protests on issues including the Citizenship Act amendments, according to a report by The Times of India’ Swati Deshpande.

Justice Madhav Jamdar, presiding over the single judge bench, questioned the prosecution over the one year externment order, which cited five FIRs lodged against Chaudhary, most of them related to protests against the central government.

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According to the TOI report, the prosecution referred to slogans raised by Chaudhary during the protests, including "BJP Govt murdabad" and "Amit Shah murdabad". The court noted that citizens have the right to raise such slogans and questioned why externment orders were issued over them.

In its order, the court stated that Chaudhary had organised morchas and dharnas against certain decisions taken by the Government of India, and that this could not be grounds for externment under the Maharashtra Police Act, TOI reported. The order stated that the action taken against him was mala fide.

Chaudhary, 49, had organised protests against amendments to the Citizenship Act and on the Gyanvapi Masjid issue, among other decisions involving the central government, according to the report.

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The court order stated that under Articles 19 and 21 of the Constitution of India, citizens have the freedom to express their opinion and to live with dignity. It further stated that the action taken against Chaudhary for opposing certain decisions of the central government affected his fundamental rights. The court also observed that police officers are public servants and not servants of the chief minister or the prime minister, according to the TOI report.

The externment orders against Chaudhary were passed by the deputy commissioner of police (Zone 6), Mumbai, on December 3, 2025, and by the divisional commissioner, Konkan Division, on March 27, 2026, the report said.

With inputs from TOI