Mumbai, Sept 19: The Bombay High Court on Friday orally remarked that the case against a 19-year-old student for her social media post against Operation Sindoor cannot be quashed only the ground that she has deleted the post and apologised for it.
A bench of Chief Justice Shree Chandrashekhar and Justice Gautam Ankhad said just because the accused is a “bright student” and has passed her exams with “flying colours” does not mean the FIR lodged against her can be quashed.
The court was hearing a petition filed by the Pune collegian seeking to quash the FIR lodged against her in May for her social media post on Indo-Pak hostilities amid Operation Sindoor.
She was arrested but was later released after securing bail from the High Court.
On Friday, the court was informed by the student’s advocate that, after securing bail, the girl had appeared for her examinations and had secured good marks.
The bench, however, said just because she was a bright student cannot be a ground to quash the FIR.
The girl’s lawyer submitted that she had no ill intention behind the post and had deleted the same immediately and apologised.
The court, however, noted that deletion (of the post) in fact aggravates and complicates the case.
The bench posted the matter for further hearing after two weeks while directing public prosecutor Mankhuwar Deshmukh to submit the case diary.
On May 7, the girl had reposted a post on Instagram from an account called ‘Reformistan’, which criticised the Indian government for provoking a war against Pakistan.
Within two hours, the girl realised her mistake and deleted the post after receiving a barrage of threats.
Operation Sindoor, launched on May 7 to avenge the horrific April 22 Pahalgam attack, saw decimation of terror infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. Hostilities between India and Pakistan ended on May 10.
