Bhojpuri folk singer Neha Singh Rathore has not been able to get relief in the case of social media posts made on Pahalgam terror attack and allegedly derogatory remarks about Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Allahabad High Court rejected his anticipatory bail plea on 5 December. The court said that his posts were made at a time when there was a direct threat to the national security of the country.
A bench of Justice Brij Raj Singh said that the posts made by Rathore on X were directed against the Prime Minister and used his name in a derogatory manner. The court acknowledged that freedom of expression is a fundamental right of the Constitution, but this right is “subject to the limitations of maintaining public order and decency.”
The bench said that Rathore made this comment at the same time when the country was in shock after the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack and security forces were on high alert. Therefore, this issue is not only of expression, but also of national unity and sensitivity.
Neha Rathore had made several posts on social media after the death of 26 tourists in the terrorist attack in Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir. He had alleged that the Prime Minister’s visit to Bihar was an attempt to garner votes in the name of nationalism and the government was diverting attention from the real issues. He wrote that the ruling party was pushing the country towards war, instead of searching for the attackers or accepting its mistakes.
Officials described the posts as being against national unity and said they were likely to inflame religious and ethnic tensions. The state also claimed that Rathore’s posts reached Pakistan and were used to fuel an anti-India narrative there. Senior advocate Purnendu Chakraborty, appearing for Rathore, argued that his posts reflected disagreement over government policies, which is a right protected by the Constitution. Citing a decision of the Supreme Court, he said that criticism and disagreement are the basic conditions of democracy.
On the contrary, the government lawyers said that the Supreme Court has already rejected their petition and they have been asked to argue at the charge-framing stage in the lower court. The state also said that Rathore was deliberately avoiding police investigation and that his aim was to “create communal tension and damage the image of the Prime Minister and the BJP”.
In a 14-page order, the court criticized the language of Rathore’s post, saying it was disrespectful to the Prime Minister and was made at a highly sensitive time. The court also raised questions on the technical validity of his petition and said that he should have knocked on the door of the sessions court first. Thus, the court rejected the bail application considering that the case was serious and the investigation could be affected.
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