Sharmistha Panoli row: Calcutta HC rejects interim bail, her advocate says
Kolkata (West Bengal) [India], June 3 (ANI): After the Calcutta High Court rejected the interim bail plea of social media influencer Sharmistha Panoli, her lawyer, Md Samimuddin said that the HC has directed the police to produce the case diary so that the 'bail hearing can be held on June 5.'
Speaking to ANI, Samimuddin mentioned that the HC also instructed authorities to ensure proper amenities are provided to her in the correctional home and barred the filing of any fresh FIRs against her.
'The High Court has directed the state to produce the case diary so that the bail hearing can be held on the 5th. It also instructed the state to ensure that basic amenities, which are currently lacking in the correctional home, are provided to her. Furthermore, the court stated that no fresh FIR should be filed for the same cause of action, and we are hopeful of getting bail on the 5th,' he said.
A 22-year-old law student from Pune, Sharmistha Panoli, was arrested by Kolkata Police in Gurugram on Friday 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.
On Saturday, Panoli was produced before the Alipore Court in Kolkata, which remanded her in judicial custody for 14 days.
Earlier on June 1, Manan Kumar Mishra, Chairman of the Bar Council of India and Senior Advocate at the Supreme Court of India, strongly condemned the arrest of law student Sharmishtha Panoli. Mishra denounced it as a grave miscarriage of justice and a direct attack on freedom of expression.
Mishra asserted that the Bengal government and Kolkata Police have repeatedly demonstrated selective enforcement of the law, targeting individuals from specific communities while overlooking more serious offences committed by others. (ANI)
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