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 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.
Justice Basu Chowdhury also observed that in case she is required to go abroad for academic purposes, her application should be treated seriously by the trial court.
The single-judge bench also 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 it.
The High Court also ruled out the necessity for custodial interrogation of Panoli by the investigating officers.
It also 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.
An FIR was registered against Panoli at Garden Reach Police Station on May 15 for posting an Instagram video, where she made some objectionable comments related to ‘Operation Sindoor’ that had reportedly hurt the religious sentiments of a particular community.
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 from Gurugram.
On May 31, the trial court in Kolkata sent her to judicial custody till June 13.
The BJP’s Bengal unit questioned the “overnight” action of Kolkata Police against her and called the move by the city police a vote-bank vendetta.
(IANS)
