‘We’re trying our best to get her out of jail’: Influencer Sharmishta Panoli’s advocate

KOLKATA: Following the arrest of social media influencer Sharmistha Panoli on May 30 for ‘hurting religious sentiments’, now her lawyer, Md Samimuddin has revealed that her health is deteriorating due to poor hygiene and lack of medical care at Alipore Women’s Correctional Home.

Samimuddin said, “We are trying our best to get her out of jail before June 13. We will discuss the matter today. We will decide in one or two days about what to do…At Alipore Women’s Correctional Home, proper hygiene is not being maintained around her, and she is unwell. She has kidney stones. She is not being given access to newspapers and magazines. We have filed a petition in the court so that she gets access to her basic rights… Sharmistha is innocent. We are trying our best to get out on bail…”.

#WATCH | CORRECTION | Kolkata, West Bengal: Influencer Sharmishta Panoli’s Advocate Md Samimuddin says, “We are trying our best to get her out of jail before June 13. We will sit down on the matter today and discuss it. We will take a call in one or two days about what we will… pic.twitter.com/iLcd88OOI3

— ANI (@ANI) June 2, 2025

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.

Free the brave Sharmishta Panoli!

It’s a disgrace for the freedom of speech that she was arrested.

Don’t punish her for speaking the truth about Pakistan and Muhammad.

Help her @narendramodi! @AmyMek #Sharmishta#IStandwithSharmishta #ReleaseSharmistha #FreeSharmishta pic.twitter.com/YhGSLhuyr2

— Geert Wilders (@geertwilderspvv) May 31, 2025

On June 2, a complaint was filed against Wazahat Khan Qadri, the man whose FIR led to the law student’s arrest. Prasun Maitra, an NGO president from North 24 Parganas, lodged a police complaint accusing Wazahat of repeatedly posting abusive, anti-Hindu posts from an X account.

A 22-year-old law student from Pune, Sharmistha Panoli, was arrested by Kolkata Police from Gurugram last Friday for allegedly hurting religious sentiments with a video on Operation Sindoor. The Instagram clip, reportedly derogatory towards a particular religion, was later deleted. She also issued an unconditional apology on X and was remanded to judicial custody till June 13.

Last Saturday, Panoli was produced before the Alipore Court in Kolkata, which remanded her in judicial custody for 14 days. According to the Kolkata police, several attempts were made to serve legal notices to Panoli and her family, but the attempts were unsuccessful because Panoli and her family absconded. Subsequently, an arrest warrant was issued by the court, based on which she was arrested from Gurugram on Friday night.

“The case relates to an Instagram video by a lady named Sharmishta Panoli that hurt the religious sentiments of a particular community. FIR was lodged at the Garden Reach Police Station. Attempts to serve notice as per law couldn’t be successful since the accused, with her family absconded. Subsequently, a warrant of arrest was issued by the court of law, based on which she was arrested from Gurgaon yesterday”, as per the Kolkata Police. However, Panoli had deleted the video and issued an apology on May 15. (ANI)