IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB & HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH Date of decision: 20.04.2026 Jasbir Singh ...Petitioner(s)

VERSUS State of Punjab ...Respondent(s)

CORAM : HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE VINOD S. BHARDWAJ Present :- Mr. P.S. Ahluwalia, Sr. Advocate with Mr. Deepinder Singh Virk, Advocate for the petitioner(s).

Mr. Mohit Kapoor, Sr. DAG Punjab.

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VINOD S. BHARDWAJ, J. (Oral)

1. This is the first petition for grant of regular bail to the petitioner in case bearing FIR No.5 dated 03.06.2025, registered under Section(s) 152, 61(2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 and Sections 3, 4, 5 of the Official Secrets Act, 1923 at Police Station State Special Operations Cell, SAS Nagar (Mohali).

2. The present FIR came to be registered on the basis of a ruqa sent by SI Harminder Singh. As per the contents thereof, on 03.06.2025, while the said officer was present at Police Station SSOC, Mohali, at about 10:30 A.M., he received a secret information to the effect that one Jasbir Singh, son of Mohan Singh, resident of Village Mahlan, Police Station Chamkaur Sahib, District Rupnagar, who is stated to be a YouTube vlogger and running a channel under the name “Jaan Mahal”, had visited Pakistan on multiple occasions and was allegedly in contact with the Pakistani intelligence agency, namely ISI. It was further stated that the said Jasbir Singh, in connivance with certain unknown accomplices and at the behest of agents of the said agency, was engaged in passing sensitive information relating to activities within India, including movements of the Indian Army, to the ISI. It was also alleged that he maintained contact with several Pakistani nationals and was carrying out such activities under the guise of operating his YouTube channel. Thus, it was opined that the acts attributed to the said Jasbir Singh and his associates prima facie disclosed the commission of offences punishable under Sections 152 and 61(2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, as well as Sections 3, 4 and 5 of the Official Secrets Act, 1923. Accordingly, the ruqa was sent to the Police Station for registration of a case against the said Jasbir Singh and other unknown persons.

3. Learned Senior counsel for the petitioner contends that the petitioner was arrested in the present case on 03.06.2025 and has, since then, undergone an actual custody for a period exceeding 10 months. He contends that the present FIR has been registered on a secret information and the entire case is based only on the above information and one confessional statement of the petitioner. Apart from the above, no independent or substantive corroborative evidence has been collected by the respondent– State. It is contended that the petitioner is a vlogger who has been regularly uploading content on his YouTube channel and Instagram page. The initiation of the present proceedings is out of content posted on his youtube channel titled “Jaan Mahal”. Learned Senior Counsel submits that the incriminating material sought to be relied upon by the prosecution pertains primarily to two videos of which one video relates to the Bhakra Dam and the other concerns Mohali Airport. It is contended that, insofar as the video of Bhakra Dam is concerned, the same had been uploaded prior to the year 2024, i.e., before Section 152 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 had been notified. It is further submitted that the analogous provision under the erstwhile Indian Penal Code, 1860, namely Section 124, had already been stayed by the Hon’ble Supreme Court during the relevant period and there is no corresponding provision by which the offence of Sedition would be made out against the petitioner. Consequently, the act of uploading the said video would not constitute any offence when examined in the context of the legal regime prevailing at the relevant time. Learned Senior Counsel further submits that it is only on account of the subsequent incorporation of provisions under Section 152 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, that the prosecution seek