Bombay HC terms case against student who tweeted aimed at veteran politician as 'frivolous'

The Bombay HC has expressed disappointment with the authorities over FIRs filed against a Nashik student Nikhil Bhamre, 21, over a "frivolous'' matter who had allegedly tweeted against a veteran state politician.

The bench, which was hearing his writ petition seeking quashing of FIRs against him, questioned how social media posts could form the basis of FIRs.

"There are hundreds and thousands of tweets every day. Will you take cognizance of each and every tweet? We do not want FIRs like these…Unheard of…student is kept in custody like this," it observed, adding "nobody" was named on a page that contained a tweet by Bhamre.


"If you start taking actions like this, you end up damaging the name of the person who has received the second highest civilian award — a Padma Vibhushan. Even the towering personality (indicating Sharad Pawar but not taking his name) will not like a student being kept in jail. We do not want the towering personality's reputation to go down," the bench said.

Public prosecutor Aruna Pai said she would "take instructions'' from police authorities and the home department after the court asked for its stand on giving no objection to releasing Bhamre from custody.

The police had come prepared with a chart of cases to show there are six criminal cases registered against Bhamre and one alleged antecedent, TOI reported. Bhamre's counsel Anirudh Ganu said he will seek an urgent hearing on Wednesday or an early date this week.

Actor Ketaki Chitale, whose quashing petition was adjourned to Wednesday, faces over 20 FIRs and four non-congnizable cases in similar charges and also has been behind bars for a month.