The BJP leader in his FIR accused the filmmaker of tarnished the ‘patriotic image’ of the central government and termed her speech as an ‘anti-national’ act.
Lakshadweep filmmaker Aisha Sultana on Friday was booked by the police on Friday on charges of sedition and allegedly spreading false news after a complaint was filed by BJP’s Lakshadweep unit president Abdul Khader.
Aisha Sultana had, during a news debate on a regional channel, critiqued the administrator Praful Patel’s decisions which have led to a spike in COVID-19 and remarked that the Centre had used a “bio-weapon” against Lakshadweep.
“Lakshadweep had zero cases of COVID-19. Now it is reporting a daily spike of 100 cases. What the Centre has deployed is a bioweapon. I can say this clearly that the central government has deployed bioweapon,” she had said on a Malayalam TV debate earlier this week.
The Lakshadweep police have booked Sulthana under Sections 124 A (sedition) and 153 B (hate speech) of the Indian Penal code. The filmmaker hails from Chetiath island in the Union Territory.
The BJP leader accused the filmmaker of tarnished the ‘patriotic image’ of the central government and termed her speech as an ‘anti-national’ act.
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According to the Indian Express, Aisha however said that she used the word bioweapon in relation to the policies of the Administrator. She posted on Facebook, “I had used the word bio-weapon in the TV channel debate. I have felt Patel as well as his policies [have acted] as a bio-weapon. It was through Patel and his entourage that Covid-19 spread in Lakshadweep. I have compared Patel as a bioweapon, not the government or the country…. You should understand. What else should I call him?”.
The Union government and Lakshadweep administration have been facing severe flak for introducing controversial regulations after the new Administrator Praful Patel took charge last year. From not allowing individuals who have more than two children to participate in panchayat elections to reforms that will give the administration blatant control over private property, protests are still going on against the slew of regulations and proposals.
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