Overview
- Justice Rakesh Kainthla held that praising a foreign country without denouncing India does not meet the BNS sedition threshold because it shows no incitement to violence or disaffection.
- Suleman, a Paonta Sahib street vendor, was booked under Section 152 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita for sharing an AI‑generated image of the Prime Minister with the caption.
- Regular bail was granted on a Rs 50,000 personal bond with one surety, alongside conditions to attend trial, avoid influencing evidence or witnesses, share contact and social media details, and surrender any passport.
- Police have filed a chargesheet and seized the device allegedly used for the post, which is undergoing examination at the State Forensic Science Laboratory in Junga.
- The defence says the illiterate vendor does not operate social media and that his son created the account as the informant had access to the phone, while the prosecution argued the post was anti‑national given strained India–Pakistan relations.