Kolkata (West Bengal) [India], June 4 : Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA Shankar Ghosh on Wednesday hit out at the TMC government in West Bengal over the arrest of a law student, Sharmistha Panoli, terming this move an "anti-Hindu" and an attempt to "appease" a particular community.
Criticising West Bengal police over selective action, Ghosh pointed out that no action was taken against the TMC leaders in the past over their alleged "dirty" remarks on Hindu deities.
"This government has an anti-Hindu mindset, and the police also work in the same way. You must have seen that earlier, many TMC MLAs and MPs have said dirty things about Hindu deities. At that time, FIRs were registered, but no action was taken," the Siliguri MLA told ANI.
"This time they were so active that they arrested her from another state and brought her here. This shows their anti-Hindu mindset and desire to appease a community. They are not at all prepared to file one case against Sharmistha," the BJP leader added.
This comes after 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 Tuesday, the Calcutta High Court refused to grant interim bail to Instagram influencer Sharmistha Panoli.
On Saturday, she 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. An 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.
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.