Maharashtra High Court questions Uddhav government over arrest of student for ‘derogatory’ posts against Pawar
The Bombay High Court on Monday asked the Maharashtra government whether it would arrest every person whose tweets are objectionable after issuing an order arresting a 21-year-old student for an alleged defamatory post against NCP president Sharad Pawar.
A division bench headed by Justice SS Shinde directed the public prosecutor to take instructions from the state home department and state whether they were ready to give a no-objection statement on the pharmacy student’s release.
The court was hearing a petition filed by student Nikhil Bhamre, challenging the cases registered against him over the posts and seeking his immediate release. The High Court said that Pawar, a former Union minister and veteran politician, would also not want the student to be kept in jail.
A division bench headed by Justice SS Shinde directed the public prosecutor to take instructions from the state home department and state whether they were ready to give a no-objection statement on the pharmacy student’s release.
The court, after perusing the tweets posted by Bhamre on social media platform Twitter, said that they do not name anyone. “No one is named… and you (government) keep someone in jail for a month. How is this the basis of everything?” Justice Shinde said.
“Everyday 100 and thousands of tweets are posted. Will you take note of every tweet? We do not want such FIRs. Some students are kept in custody like this…”
Justice Shinde further observed that booking a person in such a case was probably more damaging to Pawar’s reputation (than the posts themselves). “If you start taking such action, you harm the name of the person (Pawar), who has received the second highest civilian award (Padma Vibhushan). Even the great personality (Pawar) will not like that such a student is kept in jail. We don’t want the reputation of a great personality to be diminished.”
The court, while fixing the matter for further hearing on June 16, directed the prosecutor to take instructions from the home department and give a no-objection statement on Bhamre’s release from custody. “In our humble opinion, if you come and make this statement, the state’s grace will be saved,” the bench said.
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