Supreme Court denies bail to YouTuber accused of spying for Pakistan

THe sublime margaret court on fri refused bond to move around vlogger and YouTuber Jyoti Malhotra, who is accused of sharing sensitive information with Pakistani intelligence operatives, observing that “there can be no compromise with national security”.Dismissing Malhotra’s plea challenging a Punjab and Haryana high court order denying her bail on March 7, a bench of justices Dipankar Datta and SC Sharma termed the allegations against her “very serious”.“These are very serious charges against you and any defence you have is a subject matter of trial,” the bench observed.Malhotra’s counsel argued that she had been arrested on May 16 last year and had remained in custody for more than a year despite having no previous criminal antecedents.The court, however, said the allegations involved issues of national security. “There can be no compromise with national security. The allegation is that you go to the neighbouring country and visit people at Chanakya Puri. You were in constant touch with the person who was asked by the government to leave the country. This is not a case for bail. You face trial,” the bench said.Malhotra, a resident of Hisar in Haryana, is accused of passing sensitive information to Pakistani intelligence officials. She operated a YouTube channel titled ‘Travel-with-Jo’.A case under the Official Secrets Act and Section 152 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), relating to acts endangering the sovereignty and integrity of the country, was registered against her after the Haryana Police allegedly gathered evidence of her meetings with an official at the Pakistan High Commission in Delhi.According to investigators, Malhotra later travelled to Pakistan and met officers linked to Pakistan’s security and intelligence agencies, whose names she allegedly disclosed during questioning.The police alleged that she remained in regular contact with the operatives through multiple social media platforms and exchanged video footage of the Pandoh Dam in Himachal Pradesh, strategic installations and security establishments.Investigators further claimed that forensic examination of her electronic gadgets revealed she used multiple social media platforms to communicate with operatives in Pakistan and routinely deleted conversations after exchanges. Police also cited suspicious bank transactions as part of the evidence against her.During the investigation, the Haryana Police also found that Malhotra allegedly used to secretly meet one Ehsan-Ur-Rahim alias Danish at the Pakistan High Commission. Danish was later declared persona non grata by the Union ministry of external affairs and asked to leave India on May 14, 2025.The Punjab and Haryana high court, while rejecting her bail plea earlier, observed that there was sufficient prima facie material to establish offences under the Official Secrets Act and Section 152 of the BNS.“The allegations against the petitioner are for the commission of a very serious nature of offence, i.e. Indulging in anti-national activities and passing on sensitive information to the neighbouring country,” the high court had said.It further held that, considering “the conduct of the petitioner, the gravity of offence and other mitigating circumstances”, she was not entitled to bail.