Accused of posting obscene pictures of Hindu deities in April 2020, a 22-year-old student from Indore
was asked by a city sessions court to deposit Rs. 5 lacs before going to Canada for pursuing his studies. The court in fact has reduced the deposit amount to half, earlier sentenced by a magisterial court.
The student, Himanshu Khandelwal, pursuing his Bachelor of Arts at British Columbia University, Canada in
the subject of artificial intelligence had returned to India during the time of the lockdown
because the academic activities had come to a standstill and he could attend classes online.
A VHP activist in Ahmedabad had filed a complaint with the Cybercrime
police and pointed out that his Instagram handle had posted obscene pictures of Hindu deities
and used abusive language. In 2021, he was detained by the police and his passport was withheld as one of
the bail conditions.
When his academic sessions were to begin in February, he was required to go back to Canada. The court granted permission to go to Canada till June 30. He returned to India and when he approached the court for going back to Canada on August 3, the magisterial court permitted him to leave India, but on the condition of depositing Rs 10 lakh.
The student wanted to pursue his regular studies in Canada after the Covid pandemic was eased. However, his mistake of finding himself on the wrong side of the law, deliberately or inadvertently, cost him and his family dearly. This is also a lesson for many youngsters for their unthoughtful acts.
The aggrieved student approached a city sessions court through advocate S R Mishra. The student’s parents are already in debt by obtaining loans for his studies abroad. After hearing the case, additional sessions judge A B Bhojak reduced the amount by half to Rs.5 lacs.
