GUWAHATI: The Supreme Court issued a notice on Friday regarding a plea from the father of a 14-year-old boy expelled from his Indore school for allegedly creating and sharing offensive memes on Instagram.
Justices B.V. Nagarathna and Ujjal Bhuyan presided over the case, sparked by claims that the student and two classmates set up a private Instagram account to circulate memes deemed disrespectful towards teachers, including one that reportedly had communal overtones.
During the proceedings, Justice Bhuyan noted that such behaviors are often learned at home and emphasized the need to discourage communal memes. The plea contests a ruling from the Madhya Pradesh High Court that upheld the school’s mid-session expulsion decision during the 2024–25 academic year for Class IX. The High Court stated that the situation involved multiple posts rather than a single incident, asserting that the student understood the gravity of his actions.
Nipun Saxena, the advocate representing the petitioner, argued that the punishment was excessively harsh in relation to the alleged misconduct. He stressed that it remained unproven whether the boy actually shared the memes, claiming that previous court assessments were based on assumptions rather than facts. Saxena further explained that attribution of mens rea, or intent, could not be applied to a child and cautioned that such interpretations might lead to schools having unchecked authority over monitoring students’ online activities.
Additionally, he highlighted that despite acknowledging the child’s “contrition,” the High Court justified the expulsion by insisting on the necessity of sending a strong societal message. Saxena clarified that the Instagram account was private and ran by at least three students, all of whom faced expulsion, arguing that the boy should not be held accountable for the intentions of the group.
The case is scheduled for further hearing on February 13.
Original Source: https://www.guwahatiplus.com/india/students-expulsion-from-school-over-communal-memes-children-pick-up-such-behaviour-at-home-says-supreme-court
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Publish Date: 2026-02-07 12:35:00
