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00:31watching democratic news tv in tonight's top story we focus on the dramatic legal developments
00:38surrounding 22 year old social media influencer and law student shalmista panoli arrested for an
00:46allegedly communal video amid tensions over operation sindur her case has ignited a heated
00:52debate on freedom of speech hate speech political bias and police conduct stay tuned as we bring
01:00you a detailed breakdown of what really happened from arrest to interim bail sharmista panoli a 22
01:08year old law student and social media influencer with over 175 000 followers across instagram annex
01:16has been granted interim bail by the calcutta high court after being arrested for allegedly posting
01:22communal content on social media the arrest which followed a video she posted during operation
01:29sindur a counter-strike by india in response to the palgam terror attack has triggered a wave of legal
01:36political and public discourse on 14th may during the heightened cross-border tension following the
01:44palgam terror attack that claimed 26 lives shalmista panoli posted a video on instagram in response to a
01:51question from a pakistani follower in that video she reportedly criticized bollywood celebrities for
01:58their silence on operation sindur and made remarks that were perceived as derogatory towards islam and
02:05prophet muhammad the video went viral quickly prompting strong backlash from various quarters including
02:13political figures emeem national spokesperson varis pathan flagged the video and tagged the union home minister
02:21demanding action first was subsequently filed in kolkata's garden reach police station by complainant
02:28vajahat khan and within days panoli became the target of intense trolling threats and legal action
02:35on 15th may she deleted the video and issued a public apology on x stating i do herby tender my
02:44unconditional apology i never intentionally wanted to hurt anybody i will be cautious in my public post
02:53again please accept my apologies despite her apology the legal process had already been set in motion
03:03on 30th may kolkata police arrested sharmista from gurugram haryana where she was reportedly pursuing a
03:10pre-scheduled internship with a delhi-based legal firm her arrest was preceded by multiple attempts by
03:17police to serve her notice although her family claims that communication with police continued via
03:23whatsapp up to 26th may the police maintained that she was uncooperative necessitating the issuance of an
03:31arrest warrant her family countered that she was neither hiding nor absconding her father prithviraj panoli
03:48even provided visitor slips from kolkata police headquarters dated 15th may to prove that both
03:54he and shalmees tha had appeared at the station he also highlighted the irony of police conducting
04:01searches in noida saharanpur and gaziabad despite the family staying in one gurugram hotel throughout
04:09on third june justice partha sarti chatterji denied her interim bail he remarked we have freedom of speech
04:18but that doesn't mean we can hurt others in a diverse country like india caution must be exercised
04:26the court further highlighted the supreme court's stern stance on hate speech and incitement however
04:34a vacation bench led by justice raja basu chaudhary took a more balanced view on 5th june questioning the
04:40legitimacy of the arrest procedure and warrant noting that the arrest memo lacked clarity on grounds
04:48the court was critical of how the case was handled the judge said different judges sitting today but
04:56that does not make the situation different arrest memo and warrant lack clarity senior advocate dp singh
05:04representing panoli argued that the fir lacked grounds for a cognizable offense and the target audience of
05:11the controversial post was a pakistani user singh added she's a student of law she would have been a
05:20lawyer i don't know what will happen now after hearing both sides the court granted interim bail setting a
05:29bond of 10 000 rupees and bearing panoli from leaving the country without prior permission from the chief
05:35judicial magistrate the jail life i'm very happy so like what the piece of saying as any father or any
05:45family member you feel when your child is threatened the parents want the security honorable i could
05:51has asked the you know you have to provide that and we are very happy for that actually because the
05:56because the nature of the threats i mean it is it graphic you cannot explain the fear that you have
06:02when people are talking about sir seth and judah and it is mob lynching in online actually and which
06:10i think she is a very intelligent girl and she her her you know speciality was uh you know profanity
06:17i think she will learn she is very intelligent and she will move on yeah she is she is yeah she has already
06:24she has in fact some of the most of the videos what you know she herself had deleted i not asked her
06:28because she she is very uh free-minded and i think she has already learned and she will learn further
06:32panoli's arrest quickly turned into a political flashpoint in west bengal the bjp labeled the
06:39arrest as an example of selective enforcement suggesting that the kolkata police had acted with
06:46uncharacteristic hest they accused the trinamul congress-led state government of using legal machinery
06:53for political vendetta on the flip side civil society and minority rights groups defended the arrest
07:01asserting that freedom of expression must not cross into hate speech or religious insult
07:07interestingly in a dramatic twist kolkata police also filed an fir against vajahat khan kadri
07:15the very complainant whose report led to panoli's arrest kadri accused of spreading malicious and
07:22inflammatory content himself is now absconding according to police
07:28the calcutta high court has taken note of threats to panoli's safety and has instructed the kolkata
07:34police to ensure appropriate protection the influencer had earlier claimed to receive multiple death and
07:41rape threats after the video went viral leading her to deactivate regular phone lines multiple first filed
07:48against her across the country will now be clubbed into a single case in kolkata as per the high court's
07:55direction this case has reignited the debate on the boundaries of digital expression particularly in the
08:02context of national security and religious sentiments it also raises concerns about arrest protocols
08:10procedural clarity and the politicization of legal tools furthermore it sheds light on the increasing
08:18vulnerability of young digital creators especially students who may lack the maturity or legal awareness
08:25to navigate complex social political climates while panoli's video was undoubtedly provocative
08:32questions remain about whether the arrest was proportionate and procedurally sound
08:37that was our in-depth report on the interim bail granted to sharmista panoli a case that continues to
08:44divide public opinion and test the limits of our digital freedoms as the legal battle unfolds the nation
08:52watches closely where does one draw the line between expression and offense keep following democratic news tv
09:00for every update i'm sheeb not signing off for tonight stay informed stay critical jai hind
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