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The Madhya Pradesh High Court granted bail to a Muslim professor who was arrested for sharing a social media post related to the Pahalgam terror attack.
Dr Nasheem Bano, a guest faculty at the Government Model College in Dindori, Madhya Pradesh, was arrested on April 28 for allegedly circulating a WhatsApp video on the terror attack. The arrest was made following a complaint by Deependra Jogi and a subsequent smear campaign by the Akhil Bharatiya Vidhyarthi Parishad (ABVP) against the professor.
Members of the ABVP gathered to protest near City Kotwali and called for strict action against Dr Bano. They alleged she made ‘controversial remarks’ soon after the Pahalgam attack, which hurt the sentiments of the Hindu community.
She was arrested under Sections 196 (promoting enmity between groups on religious or other grounds), 299 (acts intended to outrage religious feelings), and 353(2) (statements conducing to public mischief) of the BNS.
However, Dr Bano’s family insists she merely shared it by mistake, which is now being scandalised through a communal lens.
On June 13, Justice Avanindra Kumar Singh granted bail, noting, “Prima facie, at the outset, it can very safely be said that an educated person, holding the post of Guest Faculty in the College, had a greater responsibility to forward WhatsApp messages. But simply on the ground of forwarding messages (and) video which may hurt the religious sentiment of a community, a person cannot be indefinitely kept in jail.”
The court also asked the professor to furnish a bond of Rs 50,000, alongside one solvent surety of the same amount as per the satisfaction of the trial court. She was asked to present herself before the court on all dates fixed for the trial.
This post was last modified on June 18, 2025 7:40 pm