Granting bail to Khadija Sheikh, the court came down heavily on the Sinhgad Academy of Engineering in Pune for her rustication, days before her exams
MUMBAI – Granting bail to a teenage Muslim engineering student from Pune, arrested for her social media post critical of Operation Sindoor, the Bombay High Court severely criticised the Maharashtra government and the Sinhgad Academy of Engineering for treating her like a “hardcore criminal”.
“This is absolutely shocking. It appears that police officers are bent upon ruining her life. Equally, the college,” a vacation bench of Justices Gauri Godse and Somasekhar Sundaresan remarked, ordering the immediate release of the girl, currently lodged in Pune’s Yerwada Central prison.
Khadija Sheikh, a 19-year-old second-year IT engineering student at the 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 of sharing the Instagram stories on May 7, Khadija deleted them following a barrage of threats.
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,” media reports cited the judges as saying.
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.
Sounding tough, the high court ordered the student to be released on Tuesday itself and made it clear that it will not accept any excuses later if the authorities fail to release her 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 was issued hurriedly without allowing the student to explain her conduct, 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 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 her 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.
During Tuesday’s proceedings, additional government pleader PP Kakade argued that the girl’s post was against national interests. “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 slammed the college for the girl’s rustication, 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.
The court assured the university that it would grant her permission to write two of the missed exams and, at the same time, took assurance from her counsel that she would not indulge in any such actions again.
“Also, we will need an assurance from your client that she will not engage in such activities on social media in the future and use social media responsibly,” the court observed.
While the girl had initially moved the HC challenging the decision taken by her college rusticating her, her lawyer Farhana Shah 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. 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.
