Mumbai: A 19-year-old engineering student from Pune, arrested earlier this month over a controversial Instagram repost related to Indo-Pak tensions following Operation Sindoor, has approached the Bombay High Court challenging her rustication by her college.
The petition, filed through advocate Farhana Shah, states that the rustication order issued by Sinhgad Academy of Engineering—an unaided private college affiliated with Savitribai Phule Pune University—is “arbitrary and unlawful”.
According to the plea, the college did not serve the student a show-cause notice or provide her a chance to be heard before issuing the order. The second-year Information Technology student was arrested on May 9 and is currently lodged in Pune’s Yerwada prison under judicial custody.
“The action (of rustication), triggered solely by a social media post expressing personal opinions, was taken without affording the petitioner any opportunity of hearing and is hence in gross violation of the principles of natural justice and fundamental rights under Article 14, 19(1)(a), and 21,” the petition argues.
The student claimed that she had reposted content from the Instagram page ‘Reformistan’ on May 7, which criticised the Indian government’s role in escalating tensions with Pakistan. She deleted the post within two hours after receiving threats and later issued an apology.
Despite this, protests broke out on campus, and she was escorted out by police. An FIR was lodged by the Kondhwa police, and she was arrested the same day.
In its rustication letter dated May 9, the college stated that her actions had brought “disrepute” to the institution and alleged that she harboured “anti-national sentiments”, posing a “risk to the campus community and society”.
The student’s bail application was rejected by a local court citing that she is a permanent resident of Jammu & Kashmir.
Her petition now seeks the High Court’s intervention to quash the rustication letter, direct the college to reinstate her, and allow her to appear for semester exams beginning May 24. The matter is likely to be mentioned before a vacation bench this week for urgent hearing.
