'People Staying In India Must Be Faithful To It': Gujarat HC Denies Bail To Congress Leader Accused Of Making FB Posts Against India, Prime Minister

The Gujarat High Court on Tuesday denied bail to a Congress Leader Afzal Lakhani who has been accused of making 'Anti-Indian', and 'Pro-Pakistani' Facebook Posts and posting derogatory remarks about the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi and his late mother Hiraba.

Denying him bail, the bench of Justice Nirzar S. Desai observed thus:

"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 Court 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."

Against this backdrop, the Court refused to grant him bail.

As per the allegations against him, Lakhani made 18 Facebook pages wherein he used to create anti-Indian posts which are of such nature which could creat communal unrest in the society. Such posts were targetted not just against the Prime Minister but also against a particular community.

It was also alleged that he used to make international calls to Pakistan and other countries. Further, the counsel appearing for the state also submitted that he also used to post pornographic and obscene material on social media.

Case Citation: 2023 Livelaw (Guj) 95