Complaint filed in opposition to Kolkata man who lodged FIR in opposition to Sharmishta Panoli

Sharmishta Panoli, a regulation scholar and a social media influencer, was arrested by a group of Kolkata Police from Gurugram in Haryana on May 30 on expenses of spreading communal hatred. She was produced earlier than a Kolkata courtroom and remanded in judicial custody until June 13.

Panoli’s arrest on Friday evening was made on a criticism filed by Kolkata resident Wazahat Khan Qadri Rashidi with the Garden Reach police station and ignited a political row, with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) criticising Panoli’s arrest on the bottom that she had already deleted the video and apologised for it.

As the Kolkata police defended its choice to arrest her, Prasun Maitra, a human rights activist, on Monday filed a proper criticism in opposition to Rashidi for the 2 now-deleted posts on the social media platform X, which he stated, damage the spiritual sentiments of Hindus.

Maitra, who emailed his criticism to Kolkata police commissioner Manoj Kumar Verma and different prime officers, additionally connected screenshots of Rashidi’s posts.

“Your recent activism shows that you are very much against such communally instigating posts and determined to enforce the rule of law. In view of the above, you are requested to initiate appropriate legal action against the person, described above, in line with your recent activities and as per law of the land so that your integrity doesn’t come under any question,” stated Maitra in his criticism.

Maitra adopted up on his criticism a number of hours later, noting that the police have been but to register a primary data report (FIR) on the idea of his criticism.

Asked, a senior Kolkata police officer stated acceptable motion can be taken by the police.

Harikrishna Pai, deputy commissioner of police (Port) stated Maitra’s criticism can be regarded into and motion taken in line with regulation.

“Whatever complaint we get, we will definitely take legal action. He (Maitra) has sent his complaint to several officers,” Pai instructed HT.

Garden Reach police station is within the Port Division of the Kolkata police.

HT made repeated makes an attempt to contact Rashidi, however his cell phone was switched off.

Rashidi filed his criticism in opposition to Panoli on May 14, figuring out himself as common secretary of the Rashidi Foundation primarily based at Paharpur Road.

The FIR was registered on May 15 after Tanmoy Samui, the officer-in-charge of Garden Reach police station directed sub-inspector P Tamang to register the case and requested inspector N Akhtar to “take up the investigation.”

HT has seen a replica of the primary data report (FIR) registered on May 15 underneath sections 196 (1) (a), 299, 352 and 352 (1) (c) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.

HT tried to contact Tanmoy Samui to investigate why Panoli was booked for culpable murder not amounting to homicide (Section 299). But the responsibility officer on the police station stated Samui was not out there. Inspector N Akhtar, the investigating officer, couldn’t be contacted both.

When many social media customers criticised Panoli’s arrest, the Kolkata Police defended its motion on X on Sunday.

In a publish, police stated some social media accounts have been spreading false data that Kolkata Police had unlawfully arrested a regulation scholar for opposing Pakistan. “This narrative is mischievous and misleading. Expressing national pride and patriotism is a thing that every citizen and organisation stands for. Kolkata Police being no different, stands firmly with the citizens of India,” the publish stated,

It added that the Panoli case was registered “on the basis of allegations that she posted a video which was insulting to the religious beliefs of a class of citizens of India and amounted to promoting disharmony and hatred between different communities. “The case was registered under appropriate sections of Bhartiya Nyaya Sanhita. The case was duly investigated and, adhering to legal procedures, several attempts were made to serve notice u/s 35 of BNSS to the accused but everytime she was found absconding,” the Kolkata police stated.

“Kolkata Police acted lawfully according to the procedure established by law. The accused was not arrested for expressing patriotism or for personal belief; legal actions were taken for sharing offensive content which promotes hatred among the communities,” it added.