22-year-old Sharmishta Panoli, a Pune-based law student and influencer, was arrested for a controversial video on Operation Sindoor. Her remarks sparked outrage and led to her judicial custody till June 13.
22-year-old law student and social media influencer Sharmishta Panoli was recently arrested by the Kolkata Police from Gurugram, Haryana, after a video she posted online triggered widespread outrage.
She was later presented before the Alipore Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) Court, which sent her to judicial custody till June 13.
Sharmishta Panoli, who hails from Pune, is known for making bold and strong statements in her videos on social media. She had earlier posted content criticising Pakistan and had recently spoken in support of India’s Operation Sindoor.
In one of her latest now-deleted videos, she allegedly made communal comments while targeting several Bollywood celebrities for not speaking out about Operation Sindoor.
According to the police, her video on Instagram contained “derogatory and disrespectful” remarks aimed at a particular religious community.
The video spread rapidly online, drawing strong criticism from the public. Some users even sent her threatening messages over her comments.
After facing heavy backlash, Panoli removed the video and issued a public apology through her account on X (formerly Twitter).
In her statement, she said,
“Whatever was put are my personal feelings and I never intentionally wanted to hurt anybody. If anybody is hurt, I’m sorry for the same. Henceforth, I will be cautious in my public post.”
However, police officials said that even after the video was deleted, legal notices were sent to her multiple times, but she and her family remained untraceable.
Due to this, a court issued an arrest warrant against her. Eventually, the police located her in Gurugram and arrested her.
She was brought to Kolkata under transit remand and produced before the Alipore Court on Saturday, where she was sent to 14 days of judicial custody.
While being taken into custody, Panoli made a statement expressing her displeasure over the legal action taken against her.
She said,
“The harassment you have done, being in a democracy, this is not what a democracy is.”
Her arrest has triggered political reactions, with some leaders criticizing the move. Leader of Opposition in West Bengal, Suvendu Adhikari, condemned the action, stating,
“The action is only taken against Sanatanis. Everyone here has a licence to abuse Sanatana… This is appeasement politics. A certain community is their vote bank, and this is for appeasement.”
Congress MP Karti P Chidambaram also raised concerns over the legality of the arrest.
He tweeted,
“These interstate arrests for social media posts (unless it’s clearly demonstrated that it has led to a law & order situation) is blatantly a misuse of police powers.”
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