Bombay HC overturns rustication of Pune student arrested for post about Operation Sindoor

The Bombay High Court on Monday overturned the decision of an engineering college in Pune to rusticate a 19-year-old student who was arrested in May over an allegedly objectionable social media post about Operation Sindoor, Bar and Bench reported.

A bench of Justices MS Karnik and NR Borkar set aside the decision after finding that the student had not been heard before the rustication order was passed. The court, however, granted the college liberty to pass a fresh order after hearing the student, the legal news outlet reported.

The 19-year-old is a second-year information technology student at Sinhgad Academy of Engineering, a private college affiliated to Savitribai Phule Pune University.

On May 7, she had allegedly reposted material on Instagram from an account that criticised the Indian government. The post was related to military tensions between India and Pakistan after Operation Sindoor.

After receiving threats online, she had deleted the post and apologised.

However, following protests against her post, she was arrested on May 9. She was rusticated by the college on the same day.

On May 27, a division bench of Justices Gauri Godse and Somasekhar Sundaresan criticised the college for rusticating her for the social media post, saying that educational institutes need to help students rather than turn them into criminals.

The High Court had also criticised the Maharashtra government for arresting the student....

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