The Supreme Court on Monday stayed the arrest of Wajahat Khan Qadri, the man whose complaint led to the arrest of 22-year-old law student Sharmishta Panoli, in all first information reports registered against him outside West Bengal, Live Law reported.

Panoli, a fourth-year business and law student at a Pune university, was arrested by the Kolkata Police in Gurugram on May 30 for her remarks about Prophet Muhammad on social media. She deleted the post later and issued an apology on X.

Following Panoli’s arrest, at least five complaints were filed against Qadri in West Bengal, including two at the Garden Reach Police Station, for alleged hate speech and derogatory remarks on social media that hurt religious sentiments.

Complaints had also been filed against Qadri in several parts of the country, including Mumbai, Delhi and Assam. On June 9, the Kolkata Police arrested Qadri for posting allegedly “malicious and inflammatory” remarks on social media.

On Monday, the Supreme Court stayed further arrest of Qadri, noting he is already in police custody in one case from West Bengal and in judicial custody in another, The Indian Express reported.

The bench of Justices KV Viswanathan and N Kotiswar Singh also issued notice on Qadri's writ petition, which sought the consolidation of first information reports registered against him in Assam, Maharashtra, Delhi and Haryana.

Qadri had allegedly demanded action against Panoli on social media and later celebrated her arrest.

While not endorsing Qadri’s remarks, his counsel said he was “reaping as he has sown”. He said that Qadri had already apologised and deleted the social media posts.

However, the court said that the petitioner’s comments do not fall under the ambit of freedom of speech. It remarked that “hate speeches will not take us anywhere”, Live Law reported.

The first complaint against Qadri was filed by a Hindutva outfit, Shri Ram Swabhiman Parishad, on June 2.

The outfit alleged that his posts promoted enmity between religious groups and demanded his arrest for hurting “Hindu sentiments”.

In Assam, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma had said that an FIR was filed against Qadri for allegedly making “unacceptable comments against Devi Maa Kamakhya”.