[Tweet against Sharad Pawar] Bombay High Court grants interim bail to Nikhil Bhamre in two FIRs

The Bombay High Court on Tuesday granted interim bail to 21-year-old student Nikhil Bhamre who was arrested after he had tweeted against Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Sharad Pawar.."A student has been in jail for over a month cannot be in countenanced and some element of public interest is involved," a Bench of Justices Nitin Jamdar and NR Borkar observed while granting bail. Bhamre has been booked in six first information reports (FIRs) by various police stations in Maharashtra. The High Court today granted bail to him in two FIRs - Naupada and Goregaon police stations. The Court also directed the police to restrain themselves from arresting Bhamre in three FIRs. In the remaining FIR, Bhamre had already been granted bail by a sessions court. .The Court was hearing a writ petition filed by Bhamre seeking quashing of the FIRs registered against him after he posted tweets from his account allegedly aimed at the veteran politician leader.Bhamre has been booked for offences under 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)..Advocate Subhash Jha, appearing for Bhamre stated that the registration of multiple FIRs against a person for the same cause of action has been deprecated by the Supreme Court in various judgments. Additionally he stated that Bhamre had been arrested without being issued a Section 41A notice. Chief Public Prosecutor Aruna Pai argued that Bhamre had criminal antecedents and hence his arrest was justified. After a brief hearing, the Court was of the opinion that keeping a student in custody for a month over a tweet, could not be tolerated. "Prima facie, we also find merit in the contention of the Petitioner that multiple FIRs for the same post in different cities were against the position of law and have resulted in great prejudice against the Petitioner, a student who has to apply in different courts for bail" the court observed.Accordingly, the Court proceeded to grant bail and placed the matter for final hearing after three weeks. The Court directed Bhamre's release upon furnishing bail bond of ₹15,000 without solvent sureties..Jha appeared along with Harekrishna Mishra and Anirudh Ganu.[Read order]