Kolkata, June 2 Sharmistha Panoli, the 22-year-old law student who was arrested recently by Kolkata Police on charges of hurting religious sentiments and promoting disharmony and hatred, on Monday approached a court in the city stating that her basic rights while in judicial custody were being denied.
She is currently housed at Alipore Women’s Correctional Home in South Kolkata, where she will have to stay till June 13 as per the order of a city court on Saturday.
On Monday, her counsel Mohd Samimuddin told media persons that his client was suffering from kidney stones and hence she requires proper hygiene, which was lacking at the correctional home where she is housed now.
“Apart from that, she has been denied access to newspapers and certain other things, which are her basic right. So, a petition was filed at the court on Monday so that the correctional home authorities provide her with access to her basic rights. She is innocent and all efforts are on to get her released on bail,” Samimuddin said.
To recall, an FIR was registered against Panoli at Garden Reach Police Station on May 15, for posting an Instagram Video, where she made some comments on 'Operation Sindoor' that had reportedly hurt the religious sentiments of a particular community.
In the face of strong criticism, she deleted that video and also tendered a public apology for the matter. However, based on the FIR registered, the police first sent her a notice, which failed since she had gone into hiding in Gurugram in Haryana by then.
Thereafter, an arrest warrant was issued against her, and finally, she was arrested from Gurugram by Kolkata Police on Saturday morning and was brought back to Kolkata on transit remand on the same day.
Panoli was presented at the city court in Kolkata on Saturday afternoon, and after a detailed hearing in the matter, she was remanded to judicial custody till June 13.
BJP leaders in West Bengal, including Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly and state BJP president, questioned the "overnight" action of Kolkata Police against Panoli and called the move vote-bank vendetta.
Adhikari said that Kolkata Police was hyperactive in arresting Panoli from Gurugram for making a comment in the wake of the Pahalgam terror attack, where Hindus were targeted selectively, which she later deleted and even apologised for.
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