A single-judge vacation bench of the high court on Tuesday refused bail to Sharmistha Panoli, the 22-year-old law student arrested for posting allegedly offensive content on social media.

Rejecting the plea, Justice Partha Sarathi Chatterjee said: “We are a remarkable country, consisting of different castes, communities and religions. One should be cautious before making any derogatory comment against any of the communities. The Supreme Court has also said that making derogatory comments should be avoided.”

He asked the state to file the case diary on June 5, when the bail plea would be taken up..

Kolkata Police arrested Panoli in Gurugram on May 30. A case was lodged against her based on a complaint at Garden Reach police station on May 15.

A video she allegedly posted on social media contained inflammatory language and communal overtones.

The judge gave the state time to file the case diary. But he also barred the police from proceeding in any other case filed against the accused till the June 5 hearing.

Moving the bail plea on behalf of the student, advocate D.K. Singh prayed for interim bail and requested the judge to hear the case in detail later.

Singh contended that the complaint was lodged on May 15 and, two days later, on May 17, an arrest warrant was issued against her, showing her as “absconding”.

He said Panoli’s parents took her to Gurugram, fearing for her security. Singh also claimed that to date, his client had not been shown the charges slapped on her.

Appearing for the state, senior advocate Kalyan Bandyopadhyay opposed the plea and said the court should go through the case diary before granting bail to the accused.

“After the arrest, she was produced before the appropriate court, but the magistrate refused to release her on bail,” he said.