Criticising Babri Masjid demolition is not 'anti-national', says Bombay HC

The Bombay High Court has quashed Mumbai Police's externment orders against two functionaries of the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI), observing that expressing the view that the Babri Masjid should not have been demolished cannot be considered anti-national.

In a judgment delivered yesterday (28 July), Justice Madhav Jamdar set aside the one-year externment orders issued against Firoz Abdul Wahab Khan and Mohammad Rafiq Gulam Rasul Ansari, saying the police action appeared selective and influenced by the petitioners' religion.

The Mumbai Police had barred the two leaders from entering the city for one year in December last year, citing three FIRs related to their participation in protests over the Waqf Bill, air pollution caused by cement godowns and the Babri Masjid issue.

During the hearing, Justice Jamdar questioned the police's reliance on the Babri Masjid protest, saying that merely expressing the opinion that the mosque should not have been demolished does not amount to anti-national activity.

"Babri Masjid should not have been demolished; that is their perception. How is it anti-national? That cannot be anti-national. Everybody has got the right," the judge said.

The court also criticised the police for targeting only the two petitioners despite workers from other political parties participating in the same demonstrations.

Chief Public Prosecutor Shishir Hiray argued on behalf of the state that the petitioners had links with the banned Popular Front of India (PFI) and that their activities could incite social disharmony.

However, the court declined to consider the alleged PFI links, noting that the accusation was not included in the show-cause notices issued to the petitioners.

As a result, the bench held that the externment orders could not be sustained and quashed them.