Refusing to grant urgent bail to a 22-year-old pharmacy student, arrested last month for an alleged objectionable tweet against NCP chief Sharad Pawar, the Bombay High Court said fundamental rights are not absolute.

A division bench of Justices SS Shinde and MN Jadhav was hearing a petition filed by Nikhil Bhamre, a resident of Nashik, seeking that all five FIRs registered against him in different districts of Maharashtra be quashed. He also prayed that he should be released from jail in the meantime while his petition was pending. Bhamre`s lawyer advocate Subhash Jha told the court that it was unfortunate that this was happening to a young man in a state like Maharashtra, and "we are living in a democracy". The bench noted that Bhamre was 22 years old, and said at this age there has to be some "responsibility".