Kolkata Police defend arrest of influencer over ‘hate speech’

Kolkata Police have defended the arrest of social media influencer and law student Sharmistha Panoli, stating that the posts made by her amounted to “hate speech” and should not be conflated with freedom of expression.  | Photo Credit: PTI

Kolkata Police have defended the arrest of social media influencer and law student Sharmistha Panoli, stating that the posts made by her amounted to “hate speech” and should not be conflated with freedom of expression. The arrest has sparked political outrage, with the Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) accusing the Mamata Banerjee-led government of “state-sponsored repression”.

BJP spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia termed the arrest “shameful”. “Mamata Banerjee’s police travelled nearly 1,500 kilometres from Kolkata to arrest law student Sharmistha Panoli – just because she had expressed her opinion, for which she had publicly apologised!” he wrote in a post on social media platform X.

Leader of the Opposition in West Bengal, Suvendu Adhikari, also voiced his support for Ms. Panoli, alleging that punitive action in the State is selectively directed “only against Sanatani Hindus”.

Online campaigns under hashtags such as #ReleaseSharmistha and #FreeSharmistha have gained traction, with supporters questioning the legality of Kolkata Police’s action in arresting a woman residing in Gurugram, and the role of Haryana Police in the process.

According to the police, Ms. Panoli, a resident of the Anandapur area in Kolkata, had been absconding since an FIR was registered against her at Garden Reach Police Station on May 15. She was arrested from Gurugram on May 30.

In a statement issued on Sunday, Kolkata Police said that “multiple accounts on social media are spreading misinformation” by portraying the arrest as unlawful. They asserted that the arrest was not linked to her “opposing Pakistan”, but rather due to a video “insulting to the religious belief of a class of citizens of India” and one that promoted “disharmony and hatred between different communities”.

The case pertains to a video Ms. Panoli shared on social media following the recent Pahalgam attack in Jammu and Kashmir, which claimed 26 lives. In the video, she made remarks deemed anti-Islamic and used offensive language while referring to Pakistan, also making unsubstantiated claims about “Operation Sindoor”. She later issued an apology on May 15, the day the FIR was lodged.

TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh said on Monday, June 2, “This is a complete provocation, a deliberate trap. Such poisonous instigation is feared to have a very bad impact on the public. Therefore, there is no comparison with this post. Hence, according to the law, police action has been taken.”

Speaking to The Hindu, Ms. Panoli’s lawyer, Mohammad Shamim, said, “She is in judicial custody till June 13. Her bail plea was rejected because the court said that the investigation is still at a nascent stage and they wanted to give time to the officers to investigate the matter.”

Published - June 02, 2025 09:51 pm IST