Bombay HC quashes FIR against Pune student over Instagram repost on India-Pakistan conflict

The Bombay High Court has quashed an FIR against engineering student Khadija Shahabuddin Sheikh over an Instagram repost related to the India-Pakistan conflict. The court said there was not enough material to establish the ingredients of the alleged offences.

Justice Milind N. Jadhav said that the possibility of a post angering or upsetting someone is not by itself sufficient ground for criminal proceedings. The conditions of the penal provisions invoked must be met by the allegations, he said.

According to the court's order, on May 7, 2025, a police officer monitoring social media came across a post reposted by Sheikh. The prosecution alleged that the post had a communal tone and could have created tension and disturbed public peace. The post itself is not reproduced in the order.

The court noted that Sheikh was not the original author of the post. She removed the repost within two hours, without being asked by the investigating agency. The court also noted that she publicly expressed remorse and apologised.

The judge said the post was controversial and could have had the potential to create fear of unrest among religious communities. He also observed that reposting such content can lead to criminal liability if the necessary ingredients of the offence are established.

However, the court found no concrete material in this case showing the required criminal intent or knowledge. It said it was not shown that the repost led to any incident of communal unrest or any other unlawful act. The judge weighed this together with the removal of the post, the apology and the absence of specific material proving the statutory conditions.

Sheikh's lawyer, Farhana Shah, argued that her client had merely reposted content created by someone else and that her career would be affected if the case continued. She said the FIR was registered at Kondhwa police station of the Pune City Police and that Sheikh was arrested on May 9, 2025, the same day.

Opposing the plea, Additional Public Prosecutor Amit A. Palkar argued that a repost puts the content before the public, and that deleting the post or apologising does not automatically end criminal liability.

The court noted that Sheikh is pursuing an engineering degree in information technology, has no previous criminal record and has spent some time in custody. It also said that a gap of about two days between the repost and the registration of the FIR does not by itself make the case unlawful.

The FIR invoked certain provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, including those relating to acts endangering the sovereignty of India, promoting enmity between groups, and deliberate acts intended to outrage religious feelings.