New Delhi | BJP activist Priyanka Sharma who was arrested for sharing a West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee meme on social media, was released today.
The Supreme Court yesterday ordered her release after being in prison for 5 days, but she had to spend another night in jail as she was freed over 18 hours later – at 9:40 am today.
“I was tortured in jail. The jailor pushed me. They were very rude inside the jail and the general condition was also quite bad. They didn’t let me speak to anyone despite getting bail, didn’t let me speak to anyone for five days,” said Ms Sharma, accompanied by her brother, told reporters today.
“Water was a big problem inside the jail. There was no water in the women’s toilet. We talk about swachh Bharat (clean India) but there was no swachh inside the jail.”
“I was not allowed to speak to my family or parents since my arrest (on 10 May),” she said.
A court battle will take place in July, when the court will decide whether she should give a formal apology to the West Bengal government, for sharing the morphed photo.
“I have not done anything for which I should offer apology. Why target only me? What about many other people who have shared the post, arrest them also? The police took my phone… They told me to say I will never post anything like this again,” the BJYM leader said.
She announced she will not apologise and will fight the case.
Priyanka Sharma and her brother further went on to accuse the Chief Minister of trying to “deploy terror”.
She also claimed that she was being forced to sign an apology letter.
The meme was posted countrywide, but they took action against me only because I’m from the BJP, “Sharma said. “Where’s the justice if the TMC beats up anyone who speaks against them?
Sharma was charged with defamation under Section 500 of the Indian Penal Code, Section 66A (offensive messages) and the non-bailable Section 67A (punishment for publishing or transmitting of material containing sexually explicit act, etc, in electronic form) of the Information Technology Act.
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