Overview

• Additional Sessions Court granted bail to four arrested accused—Datta Chaudhari, Baliram Pandit, Ashish Wankhede and Shailesh Varma—over a derogatory social media post targeting Amruta Fadnavis.
• The court denied anticipatory bail to absconding suspects Bhumish Save and Abhijit Phadnis for failing to cooperate with police and verify the post’s accuracy.
• Pune Cyber Police registered the FIR on April 22 at the behest of advocate Basavraj Yadvad under provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and the IT Act.
• Nikhil Sankpal was identified as the original uploader of the offensive post, which attracted more than 16,000 views, nearly 900 likes and 187 retweets by the accused.
• The judge found that the content was circulated to defame and outrage the modesty of a public figure’s wife, underscoring tougher judicial scrutiny of online harassment.