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 court as having asked the prosecution.

Chaudhary, a resident of Chembur, has organised protests on matters such as the Citizenship Amendment Act, the National Register of Citizens, alleged corruption in the waqf board and fuel price hikes, Bar and Bench reported.

Externment proceedings against him were initiated in October under the Maharashtra Police Act based on several first information reports registered between 2019 and 2024.

The FIRs were linked to protests organised by him, and accused Chaudhary under a section of the Indian Penal Code pertaining to disobeying an order issued by a public authority.

In December, the deputy commissioner of police directed that Chaudhary be externed from Mumbai for 12 months.

The order cited claims in the FIRs that his activities “created fear and posed a danger to public order”, the legal news outlet reported.

The order had been upheld by the divisional commissioner of the Konkan division on appeal.

Chaudhary had challenged both orders in the High Court.

Edited by Nachiket Deuskar.