THERE IS palpable relief on the face of 49-year-old Dr Sangram Patil — a British citizen of Indian origin booked for an anti-BJP post — who has not been able to return to the UK for four months as the Mumbai Police Look Out Circular (LOC) prevented him from flying out on January 19.
On May 5, a single-judge bench of Justice Ashwin D Bhobe paved the way for his return and directed the Mumbai Police to amend the Look Out Circular (LOC) against him “on or before May 11” after Patil gave an undertaking that he would appear when required by the investigating agency.
Patil and his wife will go back to his family, including his two children, his pets, and also his job as an anesthetist with the UK National Health Service (NHS) for which he is a full-time consultant, that he risked losing after multiple notices by his employers.
“My employers had issued me multiple notices due to my absence from work. It was difficult for them to understand how one Facebook post can get you kind of detained here for 4 months,” Patil told The Indian Express, adding that the entire experience was also financially draining, costing him nearly Rs 50 lakh in legal fees and loss of four months’ salary.
Accompanied by his wife, Patil travelled from his hometown Jalgaon to Mumbai to attend court proceedings, hoping to return to the UK with his wife. The HC had directed the police to ensure he can leave by Monday. “My wife had booked her tickets for Sunday, which is when we expected we would be allowed to go. She will stay back and we are hoping to leave on Tuesday,” Patil said.
Now he can almost begin to look at things in hindsight, and wonders how things could go so wrong. “How can a twelve-word sentence on social media attract an FIR and a Look Out Circular? My children were unwell because I was away from them for so long, my wife suffered and I could have almost lost my job,” Patil said.
The FIR, which led to the LOC, was registered on December 18, 2025, based on a complaint given by one Nikhil Bhamre, social media coordinator of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s Maharashtra unit. The FIR mentioned two posts —one that questions why there was silence about a leader’s links to an international scandal, and another by an account Shehar Vikas Aghadi alleging the leader was linked to some people. Patil has claimed that the Shehar Vikas Aghadi is a page that has no link to him.
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After having gone through it all, does he regret putting up the post? “No, I don’t feel like that since the post itself is not a crime… The section applied to that post is 353 (2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) that deals with putting up posts creating enmity between different religious, racial, social groups is not applicable to my post. My post does not target any community; there is no hate speech in my post.”
“I would say that makes me feel sad that someone is hurt by what is posted as a normal human being. But there is a difference between something being bad and something becoming a crime. You can have an objection to it but you cannot register an FIR,” he said.
Patil, who was born and brought up in Jalgaon in north Maharashtra went to the UK in 2004 for work and stayed there till 2009. “I returned to the country as I wanted to do something. I have been writing against governments since probably 2008… I was involved in various anti-corruption, anti female foeticide agitations and was also part of the Anna (Hazare) movement. I have taken to the roads for agitations but such action was not taken against me.”
Patil said that after working with poor people in Jalgaon till 2015, he left for the UK. His children were born and brought up there and thereafter he visited India every year. He recently took UK citizenship as well.
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On why his post came into the limelight, he said, “I had been expressing my political views on social media. However, during Covid, when some of my posts regarding measures to be taken to deal with the pandemic went viral and the number of my followers went up.”
“Some people close to me had warned me that I was openly raising questions and I may be targeted. I did face trolling as well. So, while I had an idea that I may have to face repercussions for my posts, I never expected that this one sentence on Facebook would lead to an FIR and 4 months of LOC…,” he said.
Recalling the night he was first detained when he flew down to the city from the UK, Patil said, “When I landed in the city with my wife around 2.30am on January 10, a car was waiting outside to take us home. I was told by the immigration officials to wait as there was a case against me and that the police would be coming soon. I thought there must be something horribly wrong on my Facebook or YouTube, for which they must have stopped a British citizen at the airport and issued an LOC. So, I was kind of thinking what it could be. However, after the police took me to the crime branch unit, and showed me the post, I was shocked. I was kept there till around 6 pm and questioned before being let off.”
He was to leave on January 19 and was called in for questioning on January 16 when he was told that the LOC will be lifted once he answers questions. However, when he went to the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport in Mumbai to fly out to the UK on January 19, he was told that the LOC was still in place, preventing him from flying out.
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Then it dawned on him that it was going to be a long battle, following which he approached the Bombay High Court on January 21 filing a writ petition, something that would eventually get him permission to fly out.
He says the most frustrating was the fact that he knew it was serving no purpose. “The last time I was interrogated was on January 21, 2026. I emailed the police department almost 15 times. If you are keeping me here, interrogate, finish your questioning. If you have found out anything from Facebook, Meta… you interrogate me on that. And if you are not going to interact, then let me go because I am a full-time consultant in the NHS. But there was no response.”
When asked if the experience had deterred him in any way from posting online, he said, “I have all my accounts still active. Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, and I have been posting on them because I’m on a tourist visa here. I have stopped posting on politics or any other things here because as a tourist, I may not have all the privileges that a proper citizen has. But there is no reason why I should not post and carry on expressing my opinion in future…”
Patil took a flight on Tuesday morning. He was stopped briefly and a few things were confirmed on the system by immigration authorities before he was allowed to go. He reached his residence in the UK by Tuesday night.
