Criticism of India-Pak hostilities, calls for peace don’t amount to sedition: HC

Shimla: The Himachal Pradesh high court has ruled that criticism of war and hostilities between India and Pakistan, including references to Operation Sindoor, and advocating peace on social media does not amount to sedition.A bench headed by Justice Rakesh Kainthla made these remarks while granting bail to an accused, Abhishek Singh Bhardwaj, booked for sedition by police station Dehra in Kangra district on May 28, 2025.As per the police, the accused, in a Facebook post with a Pakistani national, declared that "Operation Sindoor was wrong".The court examined the social media content attributed to the petitioner and observed that, prima facie, the material only reflected conversations in which the petitioner and another individual criticised the hostilities between India and Pakistan. "They advocated that all people, irrespective of their religion, should stay together, and that the war serves no fruitful purpose. It is difficult to see how a desire to end the hostilities and a return to peace can amount to sedition," underlined the court.Justice Kainthla further pointed out that no prohibited or illegal weapon was recovered from the petitioner. "Thus, merely posting the prohibited arms forming the name of a person (on social media) does not amount to sedition," held the bench.Addressing the allegation that the petitioner raised the slogan "khalistan zindabad", the bench stated that no such slogan could be traced in the data extracted from the petitioner's mobile phone. Even assuming the allegation to be correct, the court relied on the Supreme Court's decision in Balwant Singh vs State of Punjab, which held that the mere raising of such slogans, without any incitement or overt act, does not amount to an offence.In the present case, the prosecution alleged that certain slogans were posted on Facebook. However, the court found no evidence at this stage to suggest that the posts incited disaffection or violence among the public. Consequently, the mere posting of such content could not, prima facie, constitute any offence, the court observed.The court also noted that the police had already filed the chargesheet before the trial court.Observing that continued detention would serve no useful purpose, the bench reiterated that bail provisions should not be used to punish an accused before guilt was established. Accordingly, the petitioner, booked for sedition under Section 152 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, was granted regular bail with the direction to abide by the bail conditions.