The Calcutta High Court on Tuesday took exception to the comments made by social media influencer and law student Sharmishta Panoli about Muslim community [Shamishta @Sharmishta Panoli Raj v. State of West Bengal].
Justice Partha Sarathi Chatterjee said her comments hurt the religious sentiments of a community and India being a diverse country, freedom of speech should not be misused to hurt others.
“Sentiments of a section of the people of our country have been hurt. We have freedom of speech but that does not mean you hurt sentiments of others. Our country is full of diversity,” the Court remarked.
Justice Chatterjee was hearing a plea filed by Panoli seeking quashing of the case registered against her and consolidation of the different first information reports (FIRs) over the video.
The Bench said the matter will be heard by the next vacation bench on June 5.
It also ordered the jail authorities to ensure basic amenities are provided to Panoli, and the case in which she was arrested will be treated as the principal case.
Senior Advocate DP Singh appeared for Panoli and submitted that even basic human rights are being denied to her in jail.
“I am appalled that basic human rights like change of clothes or medicines are not being allowed to her… Is this human rights? I am so astonished… Even a terrorist would be entitled to this,” he said.
Singh said Panoli has Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and is facing problems in jail.
He added that the FIR does not have any content and yet raids are being conducted across the country.
Senior Advocate Kalyan Bandyopadhyay appeared for the State of West Bengal and opposed the plea.
He said all the facilities provided to any other prisoner will be provided to her and nothing more.
A Kolkata court had on May 31 sent Panoli to 14 days of judicial custody over an allegedly derogatory video hurting religious sentiments of Muslim community.
The video was posted by Panoli on Instagram on May 14 in response to a question from a Pakistani follower regarding India’s military response to the Pahalgam terror attack.
In the video, she allegedly made derogatory remarks about Islam and Prophet Muhammad while also criticising Bollywood actors for their silence on the issue.
The video soon went viral and sparked widespread backlash.
Panoli later said she received death and rape threats following the post.
On May 15, she deleted the video and issued a public apology on X.
The Kolkata Police arrested the 22-year-old law student from Pune on the night of May 30 in Gurugram, Haryana.
According to Kolkata Police, multiple attempts were made to serve legal notices to Panoli and her family, but they could not be traced.
She was eventually taken into custody from Gurugram based on a court-issued arrest warrant, the police said. Bar Bench
