Bombay high court questions swift arrest and rustication of student over social media post, wants her released for ongoing exams

MUMBAI: The Bombay high court vacation bench on Tuesday expressed surprise over the prompt rustication from college and the May 9 arrest of a second-year engineering student by Pune police. This was due to her May 7 forwarding of a social media post on Operation Sindoor during the Indo-Pak hostilities at the border. The court stated that she must be set free so she can appear for the remaining three papers starting Wednesday in her ongoing semester IV examinations.The student, a young woman, deleted the post within two hours and apologised to colleagues, said her advocate, Farhana Shah. "She is not a criminal. She is not a criminal, Mr Kakade (government pleader). She has to appear for the exam and not under police protection or custody," remarked the vacation bench of Justices Gauri Godse and Somasekhar Sundaresan. "What does the state want?... This (the arrest) is the radical reaction from the state which will radicalise students," the court observed and asked the student’s lawyer to file a brief criminal petition to seek her release as she filed a civil writ petition to challenge her rustication and in it sought interim release.To the college counsel, who tried to suggest that the college management’s actions were in "national interest," the HC said, "We have seen everything (in the petition)… This is the age to make mistakes, rectify them and deal with it. That is your role as an educational institution. What impact will a student’s post have on national interest?" When the college counsel haltingly said, "there is a tremendous unrest," Justice Sundaresan interjected, saying, "She has suffered enough."The judges, rapping the state and college, went on with Justice Godse saying, "You are turning her into a criminal? She made a mistake, she apologised. You must reform… help her if you feel she did something wrong… Straight away rusticated. How can you rusticate like this? Without any hearing? You want that the student is converted into a criminal? This is the approach?... We can understand you want to take action, it is a different thing altogether. You cannot refrain a student from appearing for exams… Let her be released."The HC said it would take up the criminal petition post-lunch to be able to pass orders for her release from prison. She is currently lodged in Yerwada central prison, Pune. Her semester examinations began on May 24, and the second paper was on Tuesday.The Pune Kondhwa police arrested her on May 9 for a post allegedly critical of the Indian govt in the then-ongoing hostilities across the border with Pakistan following terrorists killing tourists in Pahalgam. Her petition says she deleted the post within two hours of posting it and also apologised for posting it, but received a "barrage of threatening and abusive messages on social media." The FIR against her invoked various offences under BNS, 2023, including under section 152 that criminalises actions that threaten the sovereignty, unity, and integrity of India. It punishes individuals who, through words, signs, or other forms of communication, incite secession, armed rebellion, or subversive activities, or encourage feelings of separatism.A Pune magistrate rejected her bail plea on May 16, and her plea before the sessions court is on Wednesday, Shah informed the HC when asked what she had done for so long if the student was in custody since May 9. The college she was admitted to sent a letter of rustication the same day to her parents, removing her immediately after terming her an "anti-national," which she has challenged as "arbitrary and unlawful."