A Chandigarh court has denied bail to Hyderabad-based Hassan Mohiduddin Siddiqui, who was arrested on April 25 for allegedly posting misleading and scandalous content about Prime Minister Narendra Modi on X.
Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Sonali Singh, in an order dated July 27, held that the allegations against Siddiqui were serious and that his release could disturb public order and promote enmity between groups.
The Court noted that Siddiqui’s earlier bail application had already been rejected in May and that the only new circumstance cited by the defence was the filing of the chargesheet. It held that filing of the chargesheet, by itself, was not a sufficient ground for granting bail.
Siddiqui was booked by the Chandigarh Police in April on a complaint lodged by advocate Satinder Singh. The FIR relates to an X post in which Siddiqui allegedly shared a video of a man receiving a facial massage, falsely claiming that the person was Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Seeking bail, Siddiqui’s counsel argued that he had been in custody for over two months and that the offences invoked against him carry a maximum sentence of three years.
Opposing the plea, Chandigarh Police submitted that the social media post was provocative, objectionable, and capable of inciting communal disharmony and disturbing public peace.Accepting the prosecution’s submissions, the Court held that no case for bail was made out in view of the nature of the allegations and dismissed the application.
the Punjab and Haryana High Court had earlier denied anticipatory bail to academic Madhu Purnima Kishwar in May. According to media reports, Kishwar had also shared the video on X, claiming that the man receiving the facial massage was the Prime Minister, a claim that was subsequently debunked by fact-checkers.
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