
The Bombay High Court on Tuesday came down heavily on the Maharashtra government while granting bail to a 19-year-old engineering student from Pune arrested for her social media post critical of Operation Sindoor.
A vacation bench of Justices Gauri Godse and Somasekhar Sundaresan said it was "absolutely shocking" that the student has been treated like a "hardcore criminal" by the government.
"This is absolutely shocking. It appears like police officers are bent upon ruining her life. Equally the college," Justice Godse remarked ordering the immediate release of the girl, currently lodged in Pune's Yerwada Central prison.
The court ordered the student to be released on Tuesday itself and made it clear that it will not at all accept any excuses later if the authorities fail to release her today before sunset.
The concerned officer of the prison is directed to ensure that she is released today evening itself so that she can appear for her college examination, the court said, suspending the rustication order passed against her and directing the institution to issue her a hall ticket.
The rustication order has been issued hurriedly without giving the student an opportunity to give her explanation, the court said.
The court also noted that the student should not have been arrested at all since she had deleted the post immediately, expressed remorse and apologised for the same.
Khadija Sheikh, a second-year IT engineering student at Pune's Sinhgad Academy of Engineering—an unaided private college affiliated with Savitribai Phule Pune University was arrested on May 9 for Instagram stories criticising the Indian government during the Indo-Pak hostilities amid Operation Sindoor.
Within two hours after sharing the Instagram stories on May 7, she deleted them following a barrage of threats.
However, the girl was arrested and booked under Sections 152, 196, 197, 299, 352 and 353 of Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita, 2023. Along with the Pune city police, the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS), the National Investigation Agency (NIA) and intelligence agencies joined the probe in the case.
Following the arrest, on May 9, her college issued a rustication letter stating that since the girl had brought disrepute to the institution, it was justified to preserve the institution's ethos.
It further said the student 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.
Observing that the girl's act of sharing such posts can be termed as an "act of indiscretion" by a young student, the court 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."
The court questioned the conduct of the government and the college.
"Someone is expressing their opinion, and this is how you ruin her life? A student's life has been ruined," it said.
When additional government pleader P P Kakade argued that the girl's post was against the national interest, the court remarked, "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 also rapped the college for rusticating the girl, saying that an educational institution's approach should be to reform, not punish.
When the counsel for the college argued that 'students need to follow some discipline' the judges remarked, "Who is stopping you from this? First inculcate some discipline in the institute then discipline students. Practice what you preach."
"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.
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 bail.
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 student contended that the rustication order passed by the institution, was "arbitrary and unlawful".
She also stated that she had reposted the social media post without ill intent and immediately apologised.