The Punjab and Haryana High Court has refused to grant bail to Youtuber Jyoti Malhotra accused of indulging in anti-national activities and passing on sensitive information to the operatives of the Pakistan Intelligence Agency. The High Court held that her conduct raised a presumption about her involvement in the commission of a crime under the Official Secrets Act.

The High Court was considering a petition whereby the petitioner sought bail in a case registered under Sections 3, 4 and 5 of the Official Secrets Act, 1923 and Section 152 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023.

The Single Bench of Justice Surya Partap Singh held, “It is also relevant to note here that a bare perusal of the contents of Sections 4 and 5 of the Official Secrets Act makes it abundantly clear that firstly the information so collected by the petitioner comes within the ambit of prohibited information and secondly the conduct of petitioner raises a presumption about her involvement in the commission of crime under the Official Secrets Act. In addition to above, it is also pertinent to mention here that in the present case cognizance against the petitioner has also been taken for the commission of offence punishable under Section 152 of ‘the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023’...”“Taking into consideration the fact that the allegations against the petitioner are for the commission of very serious nature of offence, i.e. indulging in anti-national activities and passing on sensitive information to the neighbouring country, and also that, that to support the above-mentioned stand of the prosecution there is sufficient prima facie evidence, without commenting anything on the merits of the case, it is hereby held that in view of conduct of the petitioner, the gravity of offence and other mitigating circumstances, the petitioner is not entitled for the benefit of bail”, it added.



Advocate Ravinder Singh Dhull represented the Petitioner while Assistant Advocate General Ramender Singh Chauhan represented the Respondent.

Factual Background

The FIR was registered at the instance of SI/SHO Bijender Singh with the allegation that the petitioner, Jyoti Rani alias Jyoti Malhotra, had contacts with the operatives of the Pakistan Intelligence Agency through social media platforms. The police officer reported that during the course of inquiry, it was stated by the petitioner that she is a ‘YouTuber’ having a channel by the name of ‘Travel-with-Jo’, and for a visit to Pakistan she had come in the contact with an Official of the Pakistan High Commission at Delhi. As per the report, the petitioner further stated that in Pakistan, one ‘Ali Ahwan’ arranged her meetings with the officers of the Pakistan Security & Intelligence Agency, and she met two persons, namely ‘Shakir’ and ‘Rana Shahbaz’.

The petitioner also stated to the police officer that once she returned to India, she continued to be in touch with these persons through ‘WhatsApp’, ‘Snapchat’, ‘Telegram’ and other social media platforms, and she also passed on various important & sensitive information to them. When the petitioner was interrogated, it was revealed that ‘Ehsan-Ur-Rahim alias Danish’, with whom the petitioner had been meeting, was declared a ‘persona non grata’ by the Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India and was forced to leave the country in 2025. It was the case of prosecution that, in view of the above-mentioned information, a formal FIR of this case was lodged and the investigation taken up.

Reasoning

The Bench, at the outset, took note of the fact that the allegations against the petitioner were with regard to her involvement in anti-national and espionage activities by passing over sensitive information to the officials of the Pakistan Intelligence Agency. To support the above-mentioned stand, the prosecution was relying upon the disclosure statement of the petitioner, which was supported and corroborated by the recovery of electronic gadgets being used by the petitioner.

“The above-mentioned evidence is further supported and corroborated from the fact that there had been an effort on the part of the petitioner to delete information with regard to conversations and transmission of information to the operatives of Pakistan Intelligence Agency. Once this prima facie evidence has been collected by the prosecution the presumption enshrined under Section 4 of the Official Secrets Act comes into picture”, it added.

On a perusal of the facts of the case, the Bench found that there was ample evidence, collected by the Investigating Agency, with regard to the involvement of the petitioner in the commission of a crime, and there was a confessional statement of the petitioner which led to the discovery of facts related to this case. The Bench also stated that there was a presumption of Section 4 of the Official Secrets Act, and thus, the involvement of the petitioner in the commission of a crime was prima facie established.

Thus, considering such aspects and taking note of allegations against the petitioner of indulging in anti-national activities and passing on sensitive information to the neighbouring country, the Bench dismissed the bail petition.

Cause Title: Jyoti Rani alias Jyoti Malhotra v. State of Haryana (Neutral Citation: 2026:PHHC:034750)

Appearance

Petitioner: Advocates Ravinder Singh Dhull, Navnit Sharma

Respondent: Assistant Advocate General Ramender Singh Chauhan

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Punjab & Haryana High CourtJustice Surya Partap Singh

Tulip Kanth

Assistant Editor

Tulip Kanth is an Assistant Editor at Verdictum having over 5 years of experience in the field of legal journalism and editing. She extensively covers judgments of the Supreme Court, High Courts as well as Tribunals. She has previously worked with a legal publishing website where she oversaw the work of other editors and has also created updates on notifications of different Government Ministries. She holds an English Honours Degree from SGTB Khalsa College, Delhi University and has completed her LLB course with specialisation in Corporate Law from Amity University.