The Bombay High Court on Tuesday granted bail to a 19-year-old student from Pune arrested for her social media post on Indo-Pak hostilities and ordered her immediate release while rebuking the Maharashtra government for its "radical" reaction to her post.
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.
The court ordered the student to be released on bail forthwith, noting that she should not have been arrested at all since she had deleted the post immediately, expressed remorse and apologised for the same.
This is not a case where the girl has to remain in custody anymore, the HC said, adding the girl has to be released on Tuesday itself.
"The applicant (girl) shall be released on bail by the Yerwada prison on Tuesday itself," the bench said.
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.
The court also suspended the rustication order passed by the girl's college and directed the institution to issue her a hall ticket so that she can appear for the examination.
The rustication order has been issued hurriedly without giving the student an opportunity to give her explanation, the HC said.
The student from Pune 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 bail.
The court granted the girl bail and allowed her to appear for the ongoing examinations.
It also cautioned the girl from acting responsibly and refrain from uploading such posts on social media.
The bench said such a "radical" reaction from the state government was unwarranted and has turned a student into a criminal.
"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 her 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.
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 in judicial custody, and a local court rejected her bail plea.
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