The Supreme Court on Friday issued notice on a plea moved by the father of a 14-year-old boy who was expelled from his school in Indore for creating an Instagram account and circulating offensive memes [Jitendra Yadav vs State of MP]

The expulsion followed allegations that the boy, along with two other students, had created a private Instagram account and circulated memes which were allegedly offensive to teachers, including one meme said to have communal undertones.

A Bench of Justices BV Nagarathna and Ujjal Bhuyan was hearing the plea.

”Children are learning these things from home. Some memes with communal overtones must not be encouraged,” Justice Bhuyan remarked.

The plea was filed against a Madhya Pradesh High Court judgment which had dismissed the father’s petition and upheld the school’s decision to expel the boy in the middle of the 2024–25 Class IX academic session.

The High Court had noted that it was not a matter of just one meme, but a series of the posts. Thus, the student’s acts cannot be said to be a stray incident, it said.

The High Court also opined that the student clearly understood the seriousness of his acts and thus no apology can come to his rescue.

Aggrieved by the High Court’s ruling, the father approached the Supreme Court.

Representing the petitioner, advocate Nipun Saxena submitted that the punishment given to the boy was grossly disproportionate to the alleged misconduct.

He argued that it was never proved that the boy had shared the memes, and that the courts below had simply assumed he was the one who shared the memes.

Saxena submitted that mens rea cannot be attributed to a child in such circumstances.

He warned that such an approach would give schools unchecked powers to monitor children’s phones and online activity.

He further pointed out that while the High Court noted that the child had shown “contrition”, it still went on to say that a strong message needed to be sent to society.

Responding to the Court’s concern, Saxena clarified that such intent cannot be imputed to the boy when the Instagram account in question was private and was operated by at least three children, all of whom were expelled.

The matter has now been listed for further hearing on February 13.

Advocates Nipun Saxena, Astha Sharma, Shreyas Awasthi, Aadya Pandey, Monal Prasad and Deepali Dabas appeared for the petitioner-father.