Mumbai: The Bombay High Court Monday set aside the rustication of an engineering student by Sinhgad Academy of Engineering over a social media post during Operation Sindoor, noting that it was issued in ”breach of natural justice” without giving her a hearing.
A bench of Justices MS Karnik and Nitin Borkar granted liberty to the institute to pass an appropriate decision after hearing her and complying with the principles of natural justice.
On May 27, the vacation bench of the high court had granted her bail and suspended the rustication order by the college, noting it was “absolutely shocking” that a young student had been treated like a “hardcore criminal” despite showing remorse.
The student, a second-year Information Technology student at Sinhgad Academy of Engineering, had reposted content from an Instagram account named ‘Reformistan’ that criticised the Indian government’s actions in the ongoing Operation Sindoor. After facing backlash and threats, she deleted the post within two hours and issued a public apology. Despite this, she was arrested on May 7 by Kondhwa police and later denied bail by a local court.
She approached the high court through advocate Farhana Shah and Amin Solkar seeking direction to quash the ‘arbitrary’ rustication letter and that she be reinstated and allowed to appear for the semester exams that were to begin on May 24. She also filed a criminal application challenging the FIR.
On Monday, the bench sought to know from the college whether it would withdraw the rustication letter or the court would pass an order setting it aside.
After the college sought an order, the bench noted, “Admittedly, the letter of rustication is issued in breach of natural justice. The petitioner was not heard before the letter was issued. In view of the matter, impugned letter is set aside with liberty to concerned authority (of college) to pass order after hearing the petitioner and complying with principles of natural justice.”
The court recorded that the student had made a representation to the college, which in turn made a representation to the Pune University seeking to permit her to appear for the practical and theory exams she had missed during the time she was in custody.
The court stated that it had not made any observations on the merits of such a request, and it was open to the director, Board of Examination (BoE) of Savitribai Phule Pune University (SPPU), to take an appropriate decision on her representation in an expeditious manner.
