'Free the brave Sharmishtha'; Popular Dutch politician Geert Wilders backs Sharmistha Panoli

AMSTERDAM: Prominent Dutch politician Geert Wilders came out in support of Sharmistha Panoli, the 22-year-old law student from Gurugram who was taken into custody by Kolkata police over alleged hate speech. Sharmistha has now been sent for a 14-day judicial custody after her bail plea was rejected.

"Free the brave Sharmishtha. Her arrest is a blot on freedom of expression. Do not punish her for speaking the truth against Pakistan," Wilders wrote on Twitter. He also tagged Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the post, expressing his desire to help Sharmishtha.

Wilders, the leader of the far-right 'Party for Freedom', has been a member of the Dutch parliament since 2002.

Panoli achieved quick fame during 'Operation Sindoor' days, with her sarcastic take on subjects related to war. However, one such video, where she made acerbic religious remarks triggered widespread condemnation and even forced an apology. The video was eventually removed from social media.

“Whatever was put are my personal feelings and I never intentionally wanted to hurt anybody. If anybody is hurt, I’m sorry for the same. Henceforth, I will be cautious in my public post," Sharmistha wrote on her social media page.

With her arrest, social media came together in support of Sharmistha and blamed the draconian conduct of Kolkata police to travel up to Gurugram to arrest a student over a Facebook post for which she earlier apologized.

Kolkata police action was heavily criticised after the officials travelled up to Gurugram to arrest Panoli over a Facebook post which she had apologised for.