Is shouting 'Pakistan zindabad' illegal? An SC order clarifies

Is speaking favourably about Pakistan a criminal offence in India?

Four men arrested in Karnataka last week for allegedly shouting “Pakistan zindabad”, long live Pakistan, were the latest in a rapidly lengthening list of persons prosecuted across the country in the last few years for allegedly chanting pro-Pakistan slogans.

However, on March 7, the Supreme Court, in a judgment, outlined that extending good wishes to Pakistan, or to any other country, for that matter, is not a criminal offence.

The court stated in the judgment in no uncertain terms that the country’s police machinery is disregarding the fundamental right of citizens to freedom of speech.

Scroll explains what the judgment said and why there is no legal basis for criminalising pro-Pakistan statements.

Supreme Court judgment

The Supreme Court’s judgment, delivered by a two-judge bench comprising Justices AS Oka and Ujjal Bhuyan, stems from a first information report filed in 2022 by the Maharashtra police against Javed Ahmad Hajam, a Kashmiri professor who was at that time teaching at the Sanjay Ghodawat College in Kolhapur.

He had been booked under Section 153A of the Indian Penal Code that prohibits acts that promote disharmony or enmity between different groups based on religion, race, language, caste or community. In other words, it makes it illegal to engage in activities, make statements or...

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