Justice Santosh Rai allowed bail, noting the message may provoke anger (Section 196 BNS) but doesn’t meet the harsher Section 152 BNS criteria.
PRAYAGRAJ — The Allahabad High Court has granted bail to a man accused of sharing a post praising Pakistan on social media.
Sajid Chaudhary, a resident of Meerut, was booked under Section 152 (endangering India’s sovereignty) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and had been in jail since May 13, 2025, PTI reported.
The post in question allegedly read: “Kamran Bhatti Proud of You, Pakistan Zindabad”.
Allowing the bail plea, Justice Santosh Rai observed that while posting such a message may provoke anger or disharmony among citizens could be punishable under Section 196 (promoting enmity) of the BNS, it did not attract the stringent provisions of Section 152 of the BNS.
The applicant’s counsel argued that Chaudhary had been falsely implicated due to ulterior motives, and he had only forwarded the post and not posted or circulated any video anywhere.
He further submitted that the accused had no criminal history and there was no likelihood of his tampering with evidence if released on bail.
The government counsel opposed the plea, claiming the applicant was a separatist and had previously engaged in similar activities.
In the order dated September 25, 2025, the court observed that the government counsel had not submitted any evidence proving that the accused had made any statement against the integrity and sovereignty of India.
The court also observed that Section 152 of the BNS was a newly introduced provision without an equivalent in the Indian Penal Code (IPC), and cautioned that it should be invoked only with reasonable care.
