Bombay High Court Slams Maharashtra Government For Arresting Pune Student Over ‘Operation Sindoor’ Post, Calls It “Radical”
The Bombay High Court strongly criticised the Maharashtra government and a Pune college for arresting and rusticating a 19-year-old student over a social media post on Indo-Pak hostilities during Operation Sindoor.
Mumbai – The Bombay High Court on Tuesday strongly criticised the Maharashtra government for arresting a 19-year-old student from Pune over a social media post related to Indo-Pak tensions. The court said that the government’s reaction was too extreme and described it as “radical”.
A vacation bench of Justices Gauri Godse and Somasekhar Sundaresan heard the matter and asked the student’s lawyer to immediately file a bail application. The judges assured that they would grant her bail on the same day.
The court expressed deep concern over how a young student was treated by the authorities.
“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,” the bench said.
The 19-year-old second-year Information Technology student from Sinhgad Academy of Engineering, Pune, was arrested earlier this month after she reposted a message from an Instagram account called Reformistan. The post criticised the Indian government for “provoking a war against Pakistan” during the ongoing Operation Sindoor.
After receiving threats online, she deleted the post within two hours and issued an apology. Despite this, she was arrested the same day by the Kondhwa police, following an FIR, and has since been kept in Yerwada Prison, Pune, under judicial custody. A local court had earlier rejected her bail plea.
ALSO READ: ILS College Pune College Accused of Overcharging Fees, Students Demand Probe
The High Court questioned not only the government but also the student’s college, which had decided to rusticate her.
“Someone is expressing their opinion, and this is how you ruin her life? A student’s life has been ruined,” the court observed.
The Additional Government Pleader, P P Kakade, told the court that the student’s post was against the national interest.
However, the bench disagreed and said, “National interest would not suffer because of a post uploaded by a student who has realised her mistake and apologised.”
The judges expressed serious concern about the message this incident sends to other students.
“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 bench added.
The court also criticised the college for not giving the student a chance to explain herself. It reminded the college that an educational institution should not only teach academics but also help students learn from their mistakes.
“The job of an educational institution is to not just impart academic education but also to help students reform,” the judges said. “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 bench emphasised that the student is very young and bound to make mistakes.
“She is at an age where mistakes are bound to happen,” it said.
The court noted that she had already suffered enough and asked her lawyer, Farhana Shah, to immediately file a bail petition.
The court made it clear that it would pass an order for her immediate release so she could appear for her upcoming semester exams, which are scheduled to start on May 24.
In her petition, the student said that the college’s decision to rusticate her was arbitrary, unlawful, and a gross violation of her fundamental rights. She urged the High Court to cancel the rustication order, reinstate her in college, and allow her to appear for her exams.
According to the petition, the student had no intention to harm anyone. She simply reposted content from another account and removed it once she realised it was inappropriate. The student stated she had apologised immediately but was still treated harshly.
In its May 9 rustication letter, the college said that the student’s actions had brought disrepute to the institution and threatened the ethos of the campus. The college further claimed that the student displayed anti-national sentiments and posed a risk to the campus community and society.
Due to rising protests, the student had to be escorted out of college for her safety. She was then arrested the same day and remains in custody.
