The Bar Council of Delhi (BCD) on Monday “strongly” condemned the arrest of 22-year-old law student Sharmistha Panoli by the West Bengal Police over a social media video. In a press statement, Chairman of BCD Surya Prakash Khatri said that despite the fact that social media influencer Panoli immediately deleted the online post and apologised, the Kolkata Police showed high-handedness and unnecessary haste.
“The high-handedness and unnecessary haste shown by the Kolkata Police in arresting Ms. Sharmistha Panoli, as if she were a criminal, shows the selective, excessive and politically motivated action of Kolkata Police, which no doubt, done at the behest of the West Bengal Government,” added the press statement.
Further, it said that there is rampant lawlessness in West Bengal with the active support of police, violence, atrocities and brutalities were perpetrated by the groups supported by the state government. Chairman Khatri, on behalf of BCD, demanded the immediate release of Panoli to uphold the scale of justice.
A day before, senior advocate and Chairman of the Bar Council of India Manan Kumar Mishra demanded Sharmistha’s immediate release, calling upon the Bengal government and its police to abandon the dangerous path of targeting “select voices”.
Sharmishta was booked by the Kolkata Police after her allegedly controversial remarks against Pakistan. \ Earlier, in a now-deleted video, Sharmishta had criticised Bollywood actors for their silence on the Pahalgam terror attack and India’s counter-terror strike, Operation Sindoor.
As per media reports, Kolkata Police has lodged an FIR against the influencer under sections 196(1) (a) (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, caste, or community), 299 (deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage the religious feelings of any class of citizens), 352 ( intentional insult with the intent to provoke a breach of peace), and 353(1)(c) (statements that incite public mischief) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.
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