Law student Sharmistha Panoli gets interim bail from Calcutta High Court
The court directed her to cooperate with the investigation, not leave the country, and furnished bail on a personal bond of Rs 10,000. The court also ordered appropriate police protection for her.
Her father, Prithviraj Panoli, expressed relief, citing her health issues, including kidney problems and Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
Prithviraj Panoli said, 'I am very happy... no father would like his daughter to stay in jail. Her mother was crying for a long time, but she is very happy now. There were two concerns, his kidney problem and Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). She needs regular medicine, but since we didn't have a prescription, the medicine wasn't given in jail.'
'Also, when the video was posted, we found out after two days, and we told her to delete it. We hoped this would be a lesson for her, and that she would do better in the future,' Panoli said.
According to Sharmistha's lawyer, DP Singh, the bail was granted on three conditions: Sharmistha must surrender her passport, must cooperate with the investigation and must sign a bail bond.
DP Singh argued that Sharmistha is a victim of circumstances and that her social media post was a defense of her country based on videos she had seen. He questioned the severity of the response, suggesting that the community's reaction was disproportionate to her actions. Speaking to ANI, Advocate DP Singh said, 'She has got bail on 3 conditions, that she will surrender her passport, she will join the investigation and sign a bail bond...whatever is happening right now in the country is wrong. You just arrest students...they speak what they see, their exposure is different...whatever she said, she said it based on the videos she saw...These children don't know much...there is a fight between India & Pakistan and they are just defending their country, so in such a situation... if we remove the clip of 5-10 seconds, she didn't say anything wrong...She is a victim of circumstances...a whole community has stood up against her...it is not like a riot took place because of what she said, so why is she being punished?'
The 22-year-old law student from Pune, Sharmistha Panoli, was arrested by Kolkata Police in Gurugram on May 30, for allegedly hurting religious sentiments with a video on Operation Sindoor.
The Instagram clip was reportedly derogatory towards a particular religion. However, Panoli had deleted the video and issued an apology on May 15. (ANI)
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