On Friday, the Bombay High Court stated orally that it cannot dismiss an FIR filed against a 19-year-old female engineering student for sharing an objectionable post titled ‘Operation Sindoor’ on social media, merely because she has expressed remorse, is an exemplary student, or has excelled in her examinations with “flying colours.”
A division bench comprising Chief Justice Shree Chandrashekhar and Justice Gautam Ankhad reviewed her petition aimed at quashing the FIR lodged by the Pune Police in May of this year.
The advocate representing the student informed the judges that she has achieved excellent results in her studies, which should be taken into consideration by the court.
However, the counsel attempted to argue that his client lacked mens rea. The court responded by stating that “mens rea is irrelevant.”
Furthermore, the counsel mentioned that his client has also removed the post, which should be factored into the court’s considerations.
In response, CJ Chandrashekhar remarked, “No no… It is the other way round… Deletion aggravates and complicates your decision (to delete).”
The bench then adjourned the case for a final hearing in two weeks, instructing Additional Public Prosecutor Mankunwar Deshmukh to provide the case diary in a sealed cover.
The student, who is enrolled at Pune’s Sinhgad Academy of Engineering—an unaided private institution affiliated with Savitribai Phule Pune University—was arrested on May 9 due to a controversial Instagram repost concerning Indo-Pak tensions following Operation Sindoor. She has contested her ‘rustication’ from the college due to her allegedly objectionable posts, claiming that the action was “arbitrary and unlawful.”
In her petition, filed through Advocate Farhana Shah, the student has challenged both the FIR and the disciplinary action taken by her educational institution that resulted in her rustication.
In May, this disciplinary action faced significant criticism from a vacation bench of Justices Gauri Godse and Somasekhar Sundaresan, who ordered the Pune Police to release the girl immediately and directed the college to allow her to sit for her pending examinations.