The Bombay High Court on Monday set aside the decision of Pune-based Sinhgad Academy of Engineering to rusticate a 19-year-old student who was arrested last month over an Instagram post amid the recent Indo-Pak tensions. [X v. State of Maharashtra].A Bench of Justices MS Karnik and NR Borkar passed the order after finding that the student had not been heard before the rustication order was passed. However, the Court granted the college liberty to pass a fresh order after hearing the student..The student, a fourth-semester engineering student, had been rusticated after she was arrested on May 9 and sent to judicial custody at Yerwada Central Jail.She had shared a post on May 7 concerning Operation Sindoor on her Instagram handle, deleted it within two hours and subsequently issued a public apology. The first information report (FIR) filed against her alleged that the post incited communal tensions and could affect national security..On May 27, a vacation bench of Justices Gauri Godse and Somasekhar Sundaresan had granted her interim bail, criticised both the arrest and rustication and allowed her to appear for her remaining university examinations scheduled for May 29, May 31 and June 3.The Court had also directed that she should not be summoned by police during the exam period and that she must not leave Maharashtra without prior permission.It had noted that she had missed her May 24 and May 27 exams while in custody, and allowed her to make representations before university authorities regarding those papers. The police was also directed to provide her with protection during the examination period, and the college was given liberty to make separate seating arrangements if required..On Monday, it was submitted before the Court that the student has now appeared for all three remaining examination papers as scheduled.
