Kolkata: The Calcutta High Court on Thursday granted interim bail for Sharmistha Panoli, the 22-year-old law student and social media influencer arrested recently by Kolkata Police over remarks on Prophet Muhammad on charges of hurting religious sentiments and promoting hatred through her posts.
A vacation bench of Justice Raja Basu Chowdhury granted her interim bail against a personal bond of Rs 10,000.
However, at the same time, her interim bail comes with a lot of restrictions as well. The court directed her to fully cooperate in the investigation carried out against her by the Kolkata Police and not leave the country without the prior permission of the court.
The court also directed her not to leave the country without its permission.
The single-judge bench directed the Kolkata Police to ensure full protection for her, considering the threats received by her over her controversial post, which she deleted later in the face of criticisms and also tendered a public apology for posting.
The High Court also ruled out the necessity for custodial interrogation of Panoli by the investigating officers.
It observed that the arrest warrant issued against Panoli was mechanical in nature and it was done without proper evaluation of whether there was a really cognisable offence in the matter. The court also noted that the process of serving notice was going on when she was out of Kolkata.
The police had maintained that her now-deleted video had “derogatory and disrespectful” comments against a minority community.
Sharmishta, a law student at Symbiosis College, posted disparaging content about Islam and Prophet Muhammad on her X account on May 14. Although the post has since been deleted, it contained insulting remarks that deeply offended the religious community.
An FIR was registered against Panoli at Garden Reach Police Station on May 15.
In the face of strong criticism, the law student deleted that video. She also tendered a public apology for the matter. However, she was arrested on May 30 in Gurugram.
On May 31, the trial court in Kolkata sent her to judicial custody till June 13.
On Wednesday, the Kolkata Police reported that the complainant in Panoli’s arrest was also booked for allegedly posting malicious and inflammatory content on social media.
Additionally, an FIR has been registered against Wajahat Khan Qadri—the man whose complaint led to Panoli’s arrest—for allegedly hurting religious sentiments.
(with agency inputs)