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Journalism of Courage
The 19-year-old Pune student arrested earlier this month over a social media reshare on Operation Sindoor was released from Yerwada Jail around 9:30 pm on Tuesday, after the Bombay High Court granted her bail the same day. Coming down heavily on the police and the Sinhgad Academy of Engineering for rusticating her, the court said that instead of reformation, the authorities seemed “bent on ruining her life”.
The student sought that the Bombay High Court quash her college rustication and she be allowed to appear for the semester exams that began May 24. In its order, the court accepted these demands and also allowed her to approach the Savitribai Phule Pune University, under which the Sinhgad Academy operates, to appear for the papers she missed while she was lodged in jail.
The student’s uncle, while waiting outside the jail for her to be released, told The Indian Express, “We trust the Indian Constitution, that’s it. Based on that we have fought this fight and got her released. Choti si galti ka rai ka pahad bana diya (they have made a big deal out of a small mistake). Our kid is back at our house, we are happy about that.”
He added, “Who will fight with these people? For no reason 20-25 days of ours have been horrible. It is an invisible force, one can only fight against a visible force. We are not politicians. We earn to eat and live our lives. We are an educated family and we have nothing to do with all this. It is a small mistake, a small thing that she didn’t see before reposting. People took screenshots of that and made it a big thing.”
Another relative said, “We have been waiting here since 5:30 pm. Earlier we were told that they would not release her till 7 in the morning as they do not release inmates after sundown.”
Farhana Shah, representing the student in the Bombay High Court, submitted that she had not written the post herself but only shared a post. She deleted the post in two hours and also apologized for it, the counsel submitted. The court accepted this in its order and said, “There is no dispute that immediately within two hours, the petitioner deleted the post and she publicly expressed remorse and tendered an apology.”
The bench of Justices Gauri Godse and Somasekhar Sundaresan rapped the authorities during the court hearing and said, “She accepted she made a mistake and removed it. You need to reform her. You need to help her, or you want to convert her into a criminal?”
Her lawyer in Pune H D Sayyed told The Indian Express, “It is a landmark judgement. After the release their investigation will go on, but we will discuss and our client can decide to apply for quashing the case in the Bombay High court.”
Multiple calls to Principal of Sinhgad Academy of Engineering Kishore Patil went unanswered.
