Gauhati High Court Grants Bail To Man Accused Of Posting FB Threat To Kill CM Himanta Sarma If Anything Happens To Pakistan

The Gauhati High Court recently granted bail to a man accused of posting objectionable content on Facebook, including an alleged 'open challenge' to kill Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma if anything happened to Pakistan. A bench of Justice Mridul Kumar Kalita passed the order in a bail application moved by one Rashid Sikdar, who had been in custody for 57 days in connection with the case. Briefly put, an FIR was lodged on May 21, 2025, alleging that objectionable posts were uploaded on the Facebook account of the petitioner. These included the messages: "I Love you Pakistan, Judi Pakistan r kiba hoi shut korim CM Himanta Biswa Sarma, open challenge Dilu" and "Pakistan Zindabad, I love you Pakistan, Pakistan r ajon manuh Jodi kiba hoi, CM k shut korim atu di open challenge dily tok????" The petitioner's counsel submitted that the mobile of the petitioner has already been seized by the Investigating Officer and he has been detained behind bars for the last 57 days. He also submits that, considering the period of detention undergone, he may be allowed to go on bail. On the other hand, though the Additional Public Prosecutor prayed for another date for production of the case diary, however, on a specific query put to him, he submitted that the Investigating Officer had given no reasons for not sending the case diary in spite of a specific requisition for the same by the Office of the Public Prosecutor. Under such circumstances, also considering the fact that the petitioner has been detained behind bars for 57 days, the Court opined that further custodial detention of the petitioner was not required for fair completion of the investigation. In view of the above, the petitioner was granted bail on the condition that he shall not, directly or indirectly, make any inducement, threat or promise to any person who may be acquainted with the facts of the case so as to dissuade such person from disclosing such facts of the case before the Investigating Officer. He has also been directed to cooperate in the investigation.Citation: 2025 LiveLaw (Gau) 37

Gauhati High Court Grants Bail To Man Accused Of Posting FB Threat To Kill CM Himanta Sarma If Anything Happens To Pakistan

Sparsh Upadhyay

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