Sharmishta Panoli, Wajahat Khan and the Irony of Online Hate

Standing on opposite ends of the political spectrum, the paths of Wajahat Khan and Sharmishta Panoli now converge in bitter irony. Both have faced legal consequences for fuelling the very communal hatred they had claimed to combat.

Panoli was arrested in Gurugram on May 30 and brought to Kolkata after a complaint was filed at the Garden Reach Police Station on May 15. In the now-deleted video, Panoli criticised Bollywood celebrities, especially Muslim actors, for their silence on Operation Sindoor, India's military strike on terror camps in Pakistan. The clip, containing strong language and communal overtones, quickly drew significant backlash. Despite Panoli issuing a public apology, she was released from custody only after securing an interim bail from the Calcutta high court.

Khan was the main complainant in Panoli's case.

Last month, Khan himself was arrested for hurting communal sentiments and accused of using derogatory, inflammatory, and sexually explicit language targeting Hindu deities, religious traditions, and the community at large. At least five cases were filed against him in Kolkata, Maharashtra, Haryana and Assam. Khan had deleted the posts and apologised before the cases were registered.

The Shri Ram Swabhiman Parishad in Bengal's Garden Reach area was the first to file a complaint against Khan, on June 2.

Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said the Assam case was because Khan allegedly made “unacceptable comments against Devi Maa Kamakhya”. “A case has been registered against him. So, our police will go to West Bengal and we will request the government of West Bengal to hand him over to Assam. But how much cooperation the government of West Bengal gives us, only time will tell,” he had said.

Reports said that Khan was booked under Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita Sections 196(1) (a) (promoting enmity between different groups), 299 (deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage the religious feelings of any class of citizens), 352 (intentional insult with the intent to provoke a breach of peace), and 353(1)(c) (statements that incite public mischief).

His bail was rejected by a Kolkata court. The Supreme Court has stayed his arrest in all cases outside Bengal, but Justice Viswanathan said, ““These hate speeches lead us nowhere."

Khan was reportedly active in local politics in the state till about 2016. Later, he removed himself from politics and became a well known figure on social media.

Soumitra Chatterjee, a YouTuber, said that those who convey messages that resemble propaganda on social media tend to build a following very quickly. "These kinds of aggressive religious campaigns contribute to social division. Often, this also leads unconnected groups to use such sentiment and content for their own propaganda. Social media is now playing a major role in shaping public opinion. Sponsored content is becoming more aggressive than independent expression," he said.

“The Supreme Court has clearly stated that everyone has the right to express their opinion under the IT Act. The key question is whether that opinion directly caused unrest — and in these two cases, it did not. Sometimes Kolkata Police are overly proactive, other times they do nothing. For instance, in the case of the BJP minister in Madhya Pradesh insulting Colonel Sofiya Qureshi, a SIT was formed but the person wasn’t arrested,” observed Senior Advocate Sabyasachi Chatterjee

Neither Khan nor Panoli was widely known until their posts on social media thrust them into controversy. It was only after Panoli's  arrest that Khan's posts drew attention, prompting multiple complaints against him across the country. 

It is clear which posts garner the attention of law enforcement and which do not. A Kolkata-based professor has allegedly been harassing left-leaning women over video calls after calling them sex workers in social media posts. Though a complaint was lodged against him, the police are yet to take action against him. Lawyer Atanu Chatterjee alleges that this reflects a biased approach by the administration.

He told The Wire: "The Calcutta high court even instructed the police to take action. I myself informed some senior police officials. Yet, strangely, no action has been taken against the accused. But in contrast, the police arrested a female student simply for a social media post.”

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