‘Can’t hurt sentiments under freedom of speech’: No Calcutta HC relief yet for Instagram influencer Sharmishta Panoli
Times of India | 4 June 2025
KOLKATA: Freedom of speech and expression did not mean one could hurt the sentiments of others, a Calcutta High Court vacation said on Tuesday while hearing a plea for interim bail moved by a South Kolkata woman arrested by Kolkata Police last week for allegedly posting a hate speech against a community on X.Justice Partha Sarathi Chatterjee did not give any immediate relief to the 22-year-old, a law student at a Pune institute, and refused to pass any interim bail order without going through the case diary."A group of people from our country got hurt by the comments made by the accused on social media. This case or incident gave rise to three or four cases. Admittedly, the sentiments of a section of people in our country have been hurt. We have freedom of speech and expression (but) that does not mean that you will hurt the sentiments of others. Our country is full of diversity, it has persons of various languages, castes and communities, all are co-existing," the HC said.The woman, in her interim bail plea, contended her arrest was illegal and continued detention for even an hour was taking a toll on her health because of her "ADHD (attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder) and kidney issues".Despite deleting post, influencer got threats, her lawyer in courtAn FIR registered at Kolkata’s Garden Reach police station on May 15 led to the woman’s arrest a fortnight later. Her counsel, D P Singh, argued that the FIR didn’t contain any specific charge that could be termed a cognisable offence. He said a crowd milled outside his client’s south Kolkata home and that she received sexually explicit messages on social media and a threat to behead her after the FIR was filed.This was despite the law student taking down her post on May 8, her lawyer said.The bail plea mentions that continued detention was taking a toll on her health, more so because of her “ADHD (attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder) and kidney issues”.Lawyer and Trinamool MP Kalyan Bandopadhyay, representing the state, said the young woman should have known the possible consequences of posting a video with hurtful remarks on social media.“All legal processes were followed and the student was arrested based on a warrant issued by a competent court,” he said. “Her bail plea was heard and rejected by a criminal court. How can she appeal to a writ court (HC), bypassing everything else?” Although four FIRs have been filed against her, Justice Chatterjee asked the state to treat the Garden Reach case as the principal one and not act on the other complaints. The accused has been remanded in judicial custody until June 13. Last Sunday, BJP MP Kangana Ranaut urged the TMC govt in Bengal “not to try to turn the state into North Korea” while AP deputy CM Pawan Kalyan flagged what he termed “selective outrage” as a political row erupted over the woman’s arrest.