Pune Student Who Criticised Govt Over Operation Sindoor Appears For Exam After Bail Under Police Security: Lawyer Tells Bombay HC

Mumbai: The Pune engineering student arrested for a social media post criticising the Indian government’s Operation Sindoor has appeared for her semester examination under security, her lawyer informed the Bombay High Court on Thursday.

The 19-year-old student from Jammu and Kashmir, currently studying at Sinhgad Academy of Engineering, was released from Yerwada Central Jail on Tuesday night after the high court slammed the Maharashtra government for its “absolutely shocking” and “radical” reaction to the Instagram post.

A vacation bench of Justices Gauri Godse and Somasekhar Sundaresan had strongly criticised the state and police for arresting the student over the now-deleted post, stating they were “bent upon ruining her life” and turning her into a “hardcore criminal”.

The court also stayed her rustication by the college and allowed her to appear for the ongoing second-year semester examinations.

Her lawyer, Farhana Shah, told the court on Thursday, “The college issued her the admit card on Wednesday and she has appeared for the exam scheduled on Thursday.” She added that the student had missed two written papers and some practical exams while in custody.

The bench noted that the student could apply to the college and to the Savitribai Phule Pune University, its affiliating body, seeking special permission to reappear for the missed exams. “No further directions are required now. The matter shall be placed before the regular bench on June 9,” the court said.

Following the HC’s orders, the college arranged for her to write the exams under special conditions. “The girl will be giving her exams in a separate classroom. A separate supervisor will be assigned for her exams and two security guards, one male and one female, will accompany her on the campus for her safety,” said college principal Kishor Patil.

The controversy erupted on May 7 when the student shared a post from the Instagram account ‘Reformistan’ criticising the government’s military operation targeting terror sites in Pakistan and PoK. She later deleted the post and apologised, but Pune’s Kondhwa police filed an FIR on May 9 and arrested her.

She was sent to judicial custody and rusticated by the college, prompting her to move the Bombay High Court seeking bail and challenging the FIR and rustication.