HC raps Maha govt as student is held over India-Pak post
Mumbai: The Bombay High Court on Tuesday came down heavily on the Maharashtra government for arresting a 19-year-old student from Pune for her social media post on Indo-Pak hostilities, calling its reaction 'radical'.
A vacation bench of Justices Gauri Godse and Somasekhar Sundaresan asked the teen's lawyer to immediately file a bail plea, which it said it would grant today itself.
The bench said such a 'radical' reaction from the state government was unwarranted and has turned a student into a criminal.
The student from Pune was arrested earlier this month for her social media post on Indo-Pak hostilities amid Operation Sindoor.
The girl, who is presently in judicial custody, moved the high court challenging a decision by her college to rusticate her.
'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,' the bench remarked.
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 said.
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