On June 13, the Bombay High Court instructed the Chief Public Prosecutor (PP) of Maharashtra Aruna Pai to take instructions from the State Home Ministry and submit a no-objection statement over the release of 22-years-old pharmacy student Nikhil Bhamare from Nashik. At least six First Investigation Reports (FIR) were filed against Bhamare for alleged derogatory social media posts on Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar.
Bhamare had posted a tweet in May, following which complaints were filed against him, and he was arrested and as a result, had to miss his exams.
Bhamare was booked under Sections Sections 153, 153A, (Promoting enmity between groups) 500, 501 (defamation), 504 (criminal intimidation), 505, 506 (statements leading to public mischief) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
On Monday, a two-judge bench comprising Justice SS Shinde and Justice MN Jadhav heard the petition filed by Subhash Jha, Bhamare’s advocate, seeking the quashing of FIRs. Bhamare sought release from the custody as an interim measure. During the hearing, Justice Shinde observed that no name was mentioned in the FIR, but Bhamare has been in prison for over a month. He said, “Nobody is named on page 48 (which included the primary tweet by Bhamre) and to keep someone in prison for a month. How is this the basis of everything? What gave rise to the FIR as per page 48?”
In his argument, Advocate Jha pointed out that the first FIR against Bhamare was registered in Thane at Naupada Police Station. Justice Shinde remarked, “Some student is kept in custody like this. Even the towering personality will not like that such a student is kept in jail.” Notably, Justice Shinde had refused to grant bail to Republic’s editor-in-chief Arnab Goswami when he was arrested by the Mumbai police over a reopened case.
When Pai tried to explain to the court that the investigation had led to Bhamare, Justice Shinde was not pleased with the argument. He said, “[It] does not matter. What will happen if you take action like this, you are unnecessarily undermining the image of the person (Sharad Pawar) who has received the second-highest civilian award.” The Government of India had awarded Pawar with Padma Vibhushan in 2017.
Pai further tried to argue that Bhamare had antecedents, but Justice Shinde refused to hear it. He said, “You take instructions. Talk to the home secretary and make a statement that you are not opposing his release from custody. People at the highest position are perhaps not aware of what is going on. Where are there allegations? There are hundreds and thousands of tweets every day. Will you take cognizance of each tweet?”
Apart from Bhamare, Marathi actor Ketaki Chitale was also booked and arrested for allegedly posting derogatory remarks against Pawar. She has spent over a month in jail.
The case will be heard next on June 16.
