Court Grants Bail To 19-Year-Old Student, Raps Maha Govt, Police For 'Ruining Her Life' Over Social Media Post On India-Pak Tension

The Bombay High Court on Tuesday granted bail to a 19-year-old Pune student who was arrested for a social media post regarding India-Pakistan tensions while calling her arrest "absolutely shocking", the bench sharply criticised the Maharashtra government for its response to her actions.

The court ordered her immediate release, allowing her to appear for her ongoing college examinations.

What Did Bombay HC Bench Say?

A vacation bench of Justices Gauri Godse and Somasekhar Sundaresan stated it was "absolutely shocking" that the student had been treated like a "hardcore criminal" and questioned whether the police were "bent upon ruining the girl's life."

The court emphasized that her arrest should not have occurred, especially since she had promptly deleted the post, expressed remorse, and apologised.

"This is not a case where the girl has to remain in custody anymore," the bench said, directing her release from Yerawada Central Jail on Tuesday itself to enable her to appear for her college exams.

According to PTI, in a rebuke to both the state and her educational institution, the court also suspended the rustication order issued by the Sinhgad Academy of Engineering, and instructed the college to provide her with a hall ticket.

Cautioning the student to act responsibly in the future and refrain from uploading such posts, the court passed its sternest remarks for the state's handling of the situation.

"Such a radical reaction from the state government was unwarranted and has turned a student into a criminal," the bench observed.

The rustication order was issued hurriedly without giving the student an opportunity to give her explanation, it said.

The student was arrested earlier this month for her social media post criticising the Indian government during the Indo-Pak hostilities amid Operation Sindoor.

She is presently in judicial custody.

While the girl had initially moved the HC challenging the decision taken by her college rusticating her, her lawyer Farhana Shah on Tuesday also filed a petition seeking quashing of the FIR and release on bail.

"This is an absolutely shocking case. Are the police bent upon ruining the girl's life? Is she a hardcore criminal?" the court remarked.

At the most, the girl's act of sharing such a post can be termed as an "act of indiscretion" by a young student, the bench said.

"The girl has posted something and then realised her mistake and apologised. Instead of giving her a chance to reform, the state government has arrested her and turned her into a criminal," it added.

The court questioned the conduct of the government and the college.

"Someone is expressing their opinion, and this is how you ruin their life? A student's life has been ruined," it said.

Additional government pleader P P Kakade said the girl's post was against the national interest.

The court, however, said national interest would not suffer because of a post uploaded by a student who has realised her mistake and apologised.

"How can the state arrest a student like this? Does the state want students to stop expressing their opinions? Such a radical reaction from the state will further radicalise the person," the court said.

The bench also rapped the college for rusticating the girl, saying that an educational institution's approach should be to reform, not punish.

The job of an educational institution is to not just impart academic education but also to help students reform, the court said, adding that the college ought to have given the girl an opportunity to explain.

"Instead of reforming her and making her understand, you have turned her into a criminal. You want the student to turn into a criminal?" the court asked.

It said the girl is at an age where mistakes are bound to happen and she had suffered enough.

What Did the Girl Post ?

The teen, in her plea, stated that the college's decision was arbitrary and a gross violation of her fundamental rights.

She requested the high court to quash the rustication, order her reinstatement, and allow her to appear for the semester exams scheduled to begin on May 24.

The second-year student of Information Technology contended that the rustication order passed by the Sinhgad Academy of Engineering, a private unaided college affiliated with the Savitribai Phule Pune University, was "arbitrary and unlawful".

The petitioner claimed she had reposted the social media post without ill intent and immediately apologised.

On May 7, the girl reposted a post on Instagram from an account called 'Reformistan', which criticised the Indian government for `provoking a war' against Pakistan.

Within two hours, she realised her mistake and deleted the post after receiving a barrage of threats.

In its May 9 rustication letter, the college stated that since the girl had brought disrepute to the institution, it was justified to preserve the institution's ethos.

It further said the petitioner had anti-national sentiments and posed a risk to the campus community and society.

The girl had to be escorted out of college due to protests against her, and she was arrested the same day by the Kondhwa police after an FIR was registered against her.

She is currently lodged in the Yerwada Prison in Pune after a local court rejected her bail plea. 

(With PTI inputs)