Published Jul 03, 2026 | 1:37 PM ⚊ Updated Jul 03, 2026 | 1:37 PM
Justice Madhav Jamdar of the Bombay High Court,
Synopsis: Justice Jamdar, who has a reputation for plain speaking and taking on authority, had many stern observations to make. He also cited how Constitutional guarantees had been flouted. Many praised the judge for his stand.
Citizens have the right to protest and the police aren’t servants “of the Chief Minister or the Prime Minister”, Justice Madhav Jamdar of the Bombay High Court said in a July 2 judgment that has drawn widespread praise and attention.
“What is this? Are all citizens being made slaves of the Indian government… Can they not stage protests, or agitate?” Justice Jamdar asked, while quashing an externment order against Saeed Ahmad Chaudhary, general secretary of the Socialist Democratic Party of India.
A Deputy Commissioner of Police in the Maharashtra police had externed the 49-year-old Chaudhary for a year from Mumbai in December 2025 and the divisional commissioner of the Konkan Range had backed the decision on March 27, 2026. Multiple FIRs that had been lodged against Chaudhary for organising protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), the National Register of Citizens (NRC), and the Gyanvapi mosque controversy were cited to defend the decision.
Justice Jamdar called the official decision “malafide”.
“Petitioner has just raised slogans like BJP Government murdabad, Amit Shah murdabad… Why can’t citizens raise such slogans? Why externment orders for such slogans?” Live Law quoted Justice Jamdar as asking.
“The petitioner, acting in his capacity, has arranged morchas and dharnas against certain decisions taken by the Government of India. That cannot be a ground for a person to be externed under the Maharashtra Police Act,” Justice Jamdar went on to add in his written order.
The Bombay High Court judge also cited Articles 19 and 21 of the Constitution of India that give citizens not only “the freedom to express their opinion but also to live with dignity”.
“The action taken by the respondents against the petitioner for merely opposing certain decisions of the government of India affects his fundamental rights,” Justice Jamdar dictated in the order.
He said he would fine all officers responsible for the action.
“I am going to impose hefty costs,” Justice Jamdar observed orally, Live Law reported.
Noted journalist Rajdeep Sardesai was among those who hailed the judgment.
“That what should have been a routine judicial affirmation of the constitutional right to protest now feels extraordinary says much about the times we live in. When dissent is criminalised and increasingly treated as a law-and-order problem rather than a democratic right, such reminders from the judiciary matter. Take a bow, Justice Jamdar,” he tweeted.
Another user, Samir Ganesh Dudhgaonkar (Shinde), shed light on Justice Jamdar’s track record of speaking truth to power.
“His courtroom should be attended, just to see him scold those in power…! He loves being called garibo ka masiha (the prophet of the poor)…! Loves to side with the poor… He scolded the Fadnavis government for lying through its teeth about not being able to find the son of cabinet minister Bharatshet Gogawale, the son who was on the run. Next day morning (January 23, 2026), the son (Vikas Gogawale) surrendered,” Samir remembered.
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(Edited by R Rajesh Kumar.)
