Bar Council of India (BCI) Chairman and senior advocate Manan Kumar Mishra on Sunday strongly condemned the arrest and judicial custody of 22-year-old Instagram influencer Sharmishta Panoli, calling it a “blatant assault on freedom of expression” and “an absolute failure of justice.”
Panoli, a law student enrolled at Pune’s Law University and a resident of Kolkata, was arrested by Kolkata Police from Gurugram on Friday night over a social media post in which she allegedly commented on Bollywood celebrities’ silence regarding Operation Sindoor—a recent counter-terrorism initiative. The video in question was later deleted and followed by her immediate public apology.
On Saturday, she was produced before a local court in Kolkata, which remanded her to judicial custody till June 13.
In a sharply worded statement, Mishra said: “It is deeply troubling that the same government that opposed Operation Sindoor—meant to avenge the brutal killing of innocents—now seeks to silence a young law student for questioning such similar double standards.”
He emphasized that a mere “wrong choice of words” should not be construed as blasphemous, adding that it was “unconscionable” for a young student to be made a scapegoat while past instances of alleged atrocities against specific communities went unaddressed.
Mishra, who is also a Rajya Sabha member, underscored the need for impartiality and restraint in a democratic society. “True democracy demands impartiality, restraint and the equal protection of rights, not selective outrage and vendetta,” the statement read.
Calling for urgent corrective measures, Mishra urged the West Bengal government and its police to “abandon this dangerous path of targeting select voices” and uphold the rule of law. He concluded by demanding “Sharmishta’s immediate release, a fair trial, and an end to the double standards that have long plagued the state’s administration of justice.”
