Days after social media influencer Sharmishta Panoli was arrested over a controversial post, a clip of court proceedings where a judge schools a police officer about misusing power has gone viral.
Panoli, a 22-year-old law student, was arrested by the Kolkata police from her Gurugram residence on May 30. She was booked for promoting enmity between different groups, outraging religious feelings, insulting with intent to provoke breach of peace, and inciting public mischief after she made hateful comments against Islam and Muslims in a video. Her arrest sparked much debate on whether the legal action against her was excessive, considering she deleted her post and apologised publicly. Currently, Panoli is out on bail.
In the over 1-minute long clip that is now viral, the judge is heard saying, “This uniform that has been given to you, is it just for the sake of exercising power? People are in jail for such minor things. The sections [criminal law code or the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita] that you attach are also a matter of discussion. It’s not like before, when no one would find out what you are doing in the police station. What was the need to put handcuffs on them and to make them sit inside the car? If the same thing is done to you, if you make a mistake or if someone alleges that you have done something, and you are picked up from your house and shoved inside a car while those wearing the same uniform as you surround you, how will you feel? You are also a citizen of this country. After the age of 60, when you retire and those wearing the same uniform as you do what you are doing, then you will think about what you have given to the system. You have caused harm to [their/its] dignity, now tell me how to deal with you. If you want to get a lawyer separately to argue for you, then you can hire one. Don’t be upset later thinking that you couldn’t argue properly”.
X user Ajeet Bharti (@ajeetbharti), who identifies as a ‘journalist’ and has amplified misinformation in the past, shared the above-mentioned clip on June 9 with a Hindi caption that translates to: “Every unruly police officer needs to be reprimanded in this manner. Also, the police commissioner or SP should be kept in jail for the same number of days as others are kept, and the entire fee for fighting the case should be recovered from the state and returned. These b**tards openly indulge in hooliganism.” At the time of writing this, the post had over 235,000 views and was reshared over 4,700 times. (Archive)
Other users, such as @wokeflix_, @S_CRana_ji, @ArunKosli, @KreatelyMedia, also posted the viral video claiming that it shows the judge reprimanding Kolkata police for the arrest of Sharmishta Panoli.
Fact Check
After breaking down the viral clip into multiple keyframes, we ran a reverse image search on a few. This led us to a longer YouTube video from December 26, 2022 titled ‘Patna High Court Judge Motivational Video’. The viral bit was a part of what he said.
Taking cue from this, we located the full hearing on the Patna High Court’s YouTube channel, posted on November 22, 2022. At the 4:47:14-minute mark of the video, Justice Ranjan can be heard saying, “…What was the need to put handcuffs on them and to make them sit inside the car? If the same thing is done to you, if you make a mistake or if someone alleges that you have done something, and you are picked up from your house and shoved inside a car while those wearing the same uniform as you surround you, how will you feel?…” Further, at the 4:48:25-minute mark, he says, “This uniform that has been given to you, is it just for the sake of exercising power? People are in jail for such minor things… You are also a citizen of this country. After the age of 60, when you retire and those wearing the same uniform as you do what you are doing, then you will think about what you have given to the system…”
The case being heard was Nibha Sinha vs The State of Bihar through the Principal Secretary, Home Department, Govt.
We also identified the judge as Justice Rajeev Ranjan Prasad of the Patna High Court.
Thus, it is clear that the viral video is completely unrelated to the recent arrest of Sharmishta Panoli. The clip, featuring Justice Rajeev Ranjan Prasad, is from three years ago during a hearing in the Patna High Court.
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