File image | Photo Credit: PTI

Thoothukudi: A day after a young woman got arrested for shouting slogans referring to the BJP as "fascist" while on board a domestic flight, a Bharatiya Janata Party leader on Tuesday said that the student could possibly be an LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) member. Identified as Lois Sofia (25), the student allegedly shouted slogans in the presence of Tamil Nadu BJP president Tamilisai Soundararajan.

Lois Sofia is said to be studying in Canada. On her flight back home, she was seated behind Soundararajan's third-row seat. All of a sudden, Lois Sofia got up and started shouted “down with BJP - RSS fascist government" slogans in the aircraft. The woman was arrested after the plane landed in Tuticorin on Monday night.

Talking to news agency ANI, BJP leader Dr Subramanian Swamy said police should probe about the lady. “Because of she is coming from Canada, she could very well be LTTE. Because a lot of Tamils in Canada are LTTE people and they use this word ‘fascist’ for the BJP.”

Saying that the BJP is a Hindu party and Hindus are the most liberal people and can never be fascist, Dr Swamy said it is the slogan of the LTTE. He further justified her arrest saying that she violated the code of conduct for passengers by saying this in the airport and therefore she deserved being arrested.

Senior journalist Shekhar Gupta has tweeted about the decorum and the legal implications of such behaviour in high-security zones like aircraft and airports.

Shekhar Gupta

‏@ShekharGupta

"Intrigued by a student shouting protest slogans on a plane/in security zone at a fellow passenger becoming a ‘freedom-of-speech’ issue. Global aviation conduct rules post-9/11 are stiff & this is a serious offence world over. This is criminal behaviour, I’m afraid", he tweets.

After the flight landed, the BJP leader got into a verbal duel with Lois Sofia and filed a complaint. The student was arrested subsequently. "She is not an ordinary person," Tamilisai Soundararajan had later told the media while adding that she suspected her "background".

The BJP leader said that she felt a threat to her life in the way the student started protesting in the flight. She suspected some "organisation" behind her protest and called for a proper investigation. Lois Sofia Lois was granted bail by a Thoothukudi court on Tuesday.

In a now-deleted tweet posted while onboard the aircraft, according to the Indian Express, Lois Sofia had tweeted:

I am on a flight with Tamilisai Soundarajan and really want to shout “மோடி-BJP-RSS இன் பாசிச ஆட்சி ஒழிக”. Will I be kicked off the flight?

— Lois (@Red_Pastures) September 3, 2018

https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

The girl had been arrested by All Women Police Station at Tuticorin and under the IPC Sections 505 (statements conducing to public mischief), 290 (public nuisance) and Section 75 of the Tamil Nadu City Police Act.