Instagram influencer Sharmishta Panoli in jail for ‘hurt sentiments’ post, lawyer seeks early hearing

KOLKATA: Advocates representing the law student of Symbiosis International University in Pune, arrested in Gurgaon on Friday for allegedly hurting religious sentiments in an Instagram video, will seek an early hearing. They said the Kolkata-based girl, in judicial custody till June 13, had issued an unconditional apology and recorded a confession statement with police.The girl's Instagram post reportedly contained "disrespectful and derogatory remarks," targeting a religion, while responding to a post on Operation Sindoor that the Instagrammer claimed was made by a Pakistani national. Soon after, she deleted the post and also apologised on X.TOI on Sunday reported on the girl's arrest following a court arrest warrant. She has been booked for promoting enmity on grounds of religion, offences relating to religion, intentional insult to provoke breach of peace and public mischief following a complaint lodged at Garden Reach PS.The arrest started a political row, with the BJP and its allies targeting the state govt. From Andhra Pradesh dy-CM Pawan Kalyan to BJP MP-actress Kangana Ranaut questioned the arrest after the student issued an apology and deleted the offensive post.Kolkata Police issued a statement, saying: "Hate speech targeting any religious figure or community or any class of citizens of India which has potential to incite disharmony and hatred between different communities is a punishable offence in BNS. Hate speech and abusive language should not be misconstrued as freedom of speech & expression as enshrined in Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution." Referring to the timing of the post, police said, "At a time when the whole country stood united and our brave citizens were fighting at the frontier, posting such content... is most abominable act... The accused was not arrested for expressing patriotism or personal belief; legal actions were taken for sharing offensive content, which promotes hatred among communities." "We will discuss the legal course of action on Monday. My client already accepted her mistake and sought an apology, but cops arrested her. We said that she gave her confessional statement and submitted her devices to cops. The magistrate acknowledged it and sent her to judicial custody," said the girl's advocate, Mohammad Shamim, who questioned the manner of arrest. He claimed they could have sent her summons on mail and WhatsApp when they could not find her or her family at their Anandapur high-rise. "The family was away and so they couldn't receive the summons. It gave cops the chance to get an arrest warrant and pick her up from her Gurgaon place, where she was with her mother." Police said, "The case was filed under appropriate BNS sections. The case was duly probed and adhering to legal procedures, several attempts were made to serve notice u/s 35 of BNSS to the accused but every time, she was found absconding. So, a warrant of arrest was issued by the court. She was apprehended lawfully from Gurgaon during day time."