'All Eyes On Sharmistha': Anti-Islam Dutch Lawmaker Backs Arrested Influencer

Sharmistha Panoli, a law student, was arrested for a social media post criticising Bollywood actors' silence on "Operation Sindoor" and allegedly insulting a community and Prophet Muhammad.

Dutch lawmaker Geert Wilders defended Sharmistha Panoli, calling her arrest a free speech violation.

Source : X

Sharmistha Panoli, 22 has been at the eye of a storm after she was arrested by Kolkata police from Gurugram over her commmunally-charged social media post on Operation Sindoor. 

In her now-deleted social media video, the law student targeted certain Bollywood actors for not speaking up during Operation Sindoor. She also allegedly used derogatory language insulting a particular community and Prophet Muhammad. 

Amid outrage on social media against the influencer with 175,000 followers across X and Instagram, Panoli has found support all the way from the Netherlands. 

Dutch lawmaker, Geert Wilders has urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to defend her rights and called her arrest a "disgrace for freedom of speech." 

Free the brave Sharmishta Panoli!

It’s a disgrace for the freedom of speech that she was arrested.

Don’t punish her for speaking the truth about Pakistan and Muhammad.

Help her @narendramodi! @AmyMek #Sharmishta#IStandwithSharmishta #ReleaseSharmistha #FreeSharmishta pic.twitter.com/YhGSLhuyr2

— Geert Wilders (@geertwilderspvv) May 31, 2025

Sharing a poster on X reading "All eyes on Sharmistha", Wilders said: "Free the brave Sharmishta Panoli! It's a disgrace for the freedom of speech that she was arrested. Don't punish her for speaking the truth about Pakistan and Muhammad. Help her @narendramodi."

Wilders is known to have built his political career on calling for hard-line policies against Islam and migrations in the the Netherlads. In the 2023 Dutch elections, he had declared  that his party's manifesto plans to ban the Quran, Islamic schools and mosques was going in the koelkast - the fridge.

Panoli is a resident of Kolkata's Anandpur area and is enrolled at Pune's Law University. She was produced at a court in Kolkata on Saturday which sent her to judicial custody till June 13 after her bail petition was rejected.

As per the police, Panoli was arrested for making a post on Instagram in which she alleged that the Hindi film actors were silent on Operation Sindoor.

After she faced backlash, she deleted the video and issued an unconditional apology. 

But a complaint had already been filed against her by the time followed by notices to her and her family.