Supreme Court Grants Bail To Congress Leader Accused Of Making Facebook Posts Against India, Prime Minister

The Supreme Court on Wednesday (18.10.2023), granted bail to Congress Leader Afzal Lakhani who has been accused of making 'Anti-Indian', and 'Pro-Pakistani' Facebook Posts and posting derogatory remarks about Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his late mother Hiraba. The Gujarat High Court had denied him bail in June this year stating that 'people staying in India must be faithful to it'. 

Today, a bench of Justice AS Bopanna and Justice MM Sundresh of the Apex Court granted him bail on the condition that he will not post any posts of this nature on social media, either directly or indirectly. 

“..having taken into consideration the fact that the High Court has also referred to these aspects of the matter and the petitioner at a later stage, had indicated regret, we would deem it appropriate to provide an opportunity to the petitioner to participate in the trial effectively but however he should restrain himself from putting any such posts on social media in future either directly or in an anonymous manner. Hence, we make it a condition for grant of relief to the petitioner and direct that the petitioner be released on bail subject to adhering to all the conditions imposed by the trial court including that he shall not put any posts of this nature on social media,” the Apex Court said while granting him bail. 

Previously, the Gujarat High Court had denied him bail observing that:

"People who stay in India must be faithful to India...On perusal of the material, the applicant has made certain comments which may hurt the sentiments of a particular community and there are certain posts which are abusive in nature. There are other materials which are of such nature which may have a larger impact on the society."

The High Court had further observed that a person may like or dislike a person, but it doesn't mean that he/she starts using derogatory and abusive language against the Prime Minister of the country and his departed mother.

"The language used in those posts is so insulting and derogatory that it is not possible for this court to reproduce any of those posts in this order. On overall consideration, this court finds that the present applicant who is an Indian citizen has destabilised the peace and harmony of the society. Prima facie the posts are agenda-driven...If such a person is granted bail, there are chances he may commit such offences again by creating pseudo-names and creating fake IDs," the High Court had said. 

As per the allegations against him, Lakhani made 18 Facebook pages wherein he created posts targeting the Prime Minister and also members of a particular community. It was also alleged he also used to post pornographic and obscene material on social media.

The petitioner was represented by Siddhant Sharma, AOR. Solicitor General of India Tushar Mehta appeared for the State of Gujarat.