A court in Kolkata on Tuesday sent 30-year-old Wajahat Khan, arrested for alleged hate posts, to six days of police custody till June 16.
Khan’s complaint had led to the arrest of 22-year-old social media influencer and law student Sharmishta Panoli on May 30 on charges of promoting religious enmity and hate speech. Panoli is currently out on bail from the Calcutta High Court.
Following Panoli’s arrest — she was accused of making an objectionable and communal social media post — at least five complaints were filed across West Bengal against Khan for allegedly promoting hate speech and hurting religious sentiments on social media. On Monday, Kolkata Police arrested Khan from the Amherst Street area.
As Khan was produced in the court on Tuesday, police teams from Haryana and Assam were also present with arrest warrants against him.
Khan’s counsel, S L Mitra, told the court that Khan did not receive any summons before he was arrested on Monday. “There is a written complaint stating that in the last few days, they found a malicious post on social media. Based on that complaint, an FIR was registered. It is being said that Wajahat Khan was arrested because the police could not locate him and had served notices on him. He did not receive any summons between June 4 and June 10. We don’t understand how three summonses were issued in just six days. We seek bail under any conditions—he will cooperate with the investigation,” Mitra told the court of Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate ( ACJM) Amit Sarkar.
Seeking his police custody, Public Prosecutor Subhasish Bhattacharya told the court, “We have all the supporting documents, and the case diary is presented in court. His hate speech has spread nationwide, not just in Bengal. We need police custody because he has deleted some posts, and we must recover those messages. Further investigation is needed.”
Before he was arrested, Khan in a video statement, said that after his complaint led to the arrest of Sharmishta Panoli, “people from a particular community began digging up my old comments, ones I had made years ago in response to someone who had defamed the Prophet”.
“My intention was never to hurt any religious sentiments. Those replies have now been edited and misrepresented to villainize me,” he said.
Khan also apologised. “To my Hindu brothers and sisters, I sincerely apologize if my words, taken out of context, caused pain. I am not that kind of person; nowhere have I spoken against Hindus or their deities. The comments shown publicly were emotional reactions to insults against the Prophet, selectively edited to tarnish my image,” Khan said in the video.
Meanwhile, Chandan Kumar Shah, representing Haryana Police, sought Khan’s custody. “Because of the post he made, problems have erupted in many areas. He has insulted Lord Krishna and Kamakhya Devi. We have a warrant against him and are seeking his custody,” Shah told the court.
A senior Kolkata Police officer confirmed that a team from Assam Police had conducted searches for Khan before his arrest.
Khan, co-founder of the Rashidi Foundation, has been booked under the same charges under which Panoli was arrested. Khan has been booked under BNS sections 196(1)(a) (promoting enmity between different groups), 299 (deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings), 352 (intentional insult with intent to provoke a breach of peace), and 353(1)(c) (statements that incite public mischief).