Bollywood actor and newly elected BJP MP Kangana Ranaut has condemned the arrest of 22-year-old influencer Sharmishta Panoli, a law student from Pune, who was taken into custody by Kolkata Police for allegedly hurting religious sentiments through a social media video.
Panoli was arrested from Gurugram on Friday night after reportedly ignoring multiple summons. Police claimed her family had gone into hiding, leading to a court-issued arrest warrant.
She was produced before the Alipore court on Saturday and remanded to 14-day judicial custody. According to police sources, she had posted a controversial video, later deleted it, and issued a public apology. Despite that, the case proceeded under Sections 153A, 295A, and 67 of the IPC and IT Act.
Kangana Ranaut took to X (formerly Twitter), saying, “This is wrong. The young girl had apologised and deleted the post. We may not agree with her views, but putting her in jail is unfair.” She added that her comments were general, not directed at any one religion, and such lingo is common among young people online. “Let her go. Don’t ruin her future. Don’t turn West Bengal into North Korea,” Kangana said.
