Bombay HC quashes FIR against Pune student over reshared Operation Sindoor post

The Bombay High Court has quashed an FIR against Khadija Shahabuddin Shaikh, an engineering student from Pune, for reshcomparing a social media post linked to Operation Sindoor. The court said a post does not attract criminal action merely because it appears objectionable; the criminal act or intent required by law must be present.

A bench of Justice Milind N. Jadhav passed the order on October 27. The order records that the student was not the author of the original post. She had shared someone else's post on Instagram and deleted it within two hours. She had also publicly expressed regret and apologised.

The FIR was registered against the student on May 9, 2025, at Kondhwa police station in Pune. The police said that on May 7, 2025, a police constable on patrol noticed the post. The post was related to the India-Pakistan conflict, and the police alleged that it hurt religious sentiments and created tension in society.

At the hearing, the student's lawyers argued that she had not created the post herself and had removed it immediately and apologised. She has no previous criminal record. They said the needless criminal proceedings could harm her bright career.

Opposing the plea, Amit Palkar, the lawyer for the state government, argued that even if the post was someone else's, reshare spreads it and can hurt religious sentiments. According to him, merely deleting a post or apologising does not extinguish criminal liability.

After hearing both sides, the court said that the mere apprehension that a post may spread anger or dissatisfaction is not enough to pursue a criminal case. The essential ingredients of an offence must be present under the sections of law invoked.

The court also wrote in its order that the student did not spread the post further after removing it. No deliberate attempt to promote religious enmity has come to light. Considering her young age and her future, an act done unknowingly, without proper evidence, cannot be treated as a deliberate criminal act. The court also observed that the purpose of prosecution and punishment should be reform, not merely penalising.

Taking all this into account, the Bombay High Court quashed FIR No. 380/2025 registered at Kondhwa police station and allowed the student's petition.