The Allahabad High Court recently granted bail to Sajid Chaudhary, a resident of Merut, who was booked by putting Section 152 (sovereignty of India) of the Joint Code of India (BNS) and has been in jail since May 2025, allegedly to share a Pakistan post on social media.
He has been accused of threatening India’s sovereignty, which was read: “Kamran Bhatti proud to you, Pakistan Zindabad”.
What did Allahabad HC say?
Hearing the bail plea, a bench of Justice Santosh Rai noticed that Chaudhary’s post could instigate anger or disagreement among the citizens, and could be punishable under Section 196 (promoting enmity) of BNS, it did not attract strict provisions of BNS Section 152 of BNS.
HC celebrated 25 September according to the bar and bench, in its September 25 order, “Only the support of any country suggests that the support of any country shows that it can create anger or disagreement among the citizens of India and can also be punishable under Section 196BN, but it will definitely not attract the content of Section 152BNS.”
What has the defendant claimed?
Arguing for Chaudhary, his lawyer claimed that he was falsely implicated due to reverse objectives. He also clarified that Chaudhary had only forwarded the controversial post, and did not post or broadcast any videos anywhere.
The lawyer also presented that the accused had no criminal history and there was no possibility of his tampering of evidence when he was released on bail.
On his behalf, the government lawyer opposed the petition, claiming that the applicants were a separatist and were earlier engaged in similar activities.
Why did the court bail?
In its order on 25 September, the bench noticed that the government did not provide any evidence that Chaudhary did not make any statement against India’s integrity and sovereignty. It was also observed that Section 152 of BNS was a new introduction provision without an equivalent in the Indian Penal Code (IPC), and warned that it should be invited only with proper care, the PTI report said.
According to the bar and bench report, HC said that the freedom of speaking and expression should not be considered narrowly, unless spoken or written words actually affect the sovereignty and integrity of a country or encourage separatism, the court said. It has also mentioned the comments of the Supreme Court that before registering a case about a post on social media, “It should be seen as a proper person and the decision should be based on the standards of the appropriate, strong -minded, firm and courageous persons and not based on the standards of weak and oscillations”.
The bench also said that Chaudhary has been in jail since May, there is no fixed date on the next mark. The B&B report states that keeping in mind the congestion in the jails, it granted them bail.
