The Calcutta High Court on Thursday granted interim bail to a 22-year-old law student who was arrested by the Kolkata Police in Gurugram on May 30 for remarks about Prophet Muhammad on social media, NDTV reported.

Sharmishta Panoli, a fourth-year business and law student at a Pune university, had reportedly made comments on Instagram that allegedly hurt religious sentiments. However, she later deleted the post and issued an apology on X.

Justice Raja Basu Chowdhury noted that Panoli’s college address and whereabouts had been disclosed in the complaint against her, and that she had been receiving threats, Live Law reported. He held that her further custodial interrogation was not needed, and that she could be released from custody.

The court also told the police to provide protection to Panoli if she faces threats.

During the hearing, the student’s lawyer DP Singh said that she had to approach the High Court since the case was a violation of her fundamental rights, Live Law reported. He also contended that the complaint against her did not disclose a cognisable offence.

“Blasphemy is not in the law of the land,” he argued.

A case was registered against Panoli at Kolkata’s Garden Reach Police Station on May 15. An arrest warrant was issued against her on May 17, based on which she was arrested on Friday from Gurugram.

The police claimed that that several attempts were made to serve a legal notice to Panoli but she and her family were untraceable. After these efforts failed, a court issued an arrest warrant following which police tracked and arrested her from Gurugram.

The 22-year-old’s father Prithviraj Panoli, however, denied that she or her family were absconding or running away from the police, The Indian Express reported. He claimed that on the contrary, her daughter had approached the Kolkata Police’s cyber cell on May 15 to complain about threats that she was said to have been getting.

A first information report was filed under sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita pertaining to promoting enmity between groups, deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage the religious feelings, intentional insult with the intent to provoke a breach of peace and statements that incite public mischief.

On Tuesday, another judge of the High Court had refused to grant Panoli interim bail but had directed that no new FIR will be filed in the case.

Her lawyer had argued that the arrest was illegal considering offences listed in the FIR were non-cognisable and that she was not served a notice before the arrest.

While denying interim bail on Tuesday, Justice Partha Sarathi Chatterjee had said: “Look, we have freedom of speech but that doesn’t mean you will go on to hurt others. Our country is diverse, with all persons. We must be cautious by saying this.”

Several politicians, including many from the Bharatiya Janata Party, had questioned Panoli’s arrest.

On Sunday, the Kolkata Police defended the arrest, saying that “hate speech should not be misconstrued as freedom of speech”.

On Wednesday, the Kolkata Police said that the man whose complaint led to Panoli’s arrest was also booked for posting allegedly malicious and inflammatory content on social media.

However, the man, identified as 30-year-old Wajahat Khan Qadri, was absconding, PTI quoted an unidentified police officer as saying.

Following Panoli’s arrest, at least five complaints were filed against Qadri in West Bengal for alleged hate speech and derogatory remarks that hurt religious sentiments. Qadri had allegedly demanded action against Panoli on social media and later celebrated her arrest.