‘Anarchy in Bengal but am arrested for a meme’, says BJP’s Priyanka Sharma

india

Updated: May 15, 2019 12:34 IST

Priyanka Sharma, the BJP leader who was arrested for sharing a meme on West Bengal Mamata Banerjee, on Wednesday said that she was “tortured” in jail.

Priyanka Sharma also said that she won’t apologise for sharing the meme. “There is anarchy all across Bengal and I am being jailed for sharing a meme,” said Sharma. The Supreme Court had ordered her release on Tuesday and told her to apologise to Mamata Banerjee.

On Wednesday, the top court said the arrest was “prima facie arbitrary”. The observation came after the lawyer for Sharma’s brother said she has not been released from jail despite the court’s order for her immediate release on Tuesday.

Sharma was arrested on May 10 after she reportedly superimposed Banerjee’s face on Priyanka Chopra’s photograph from the Met Gala event in New York held on May 6. The 26-year-old was charged with penal provisions relating to defamation, uploading offensive content and distributing sexually explicit material.

The Supreme Court said it will hear Priyanka Sharma’s application seeking action against the West Bengal police authorities in the first week of July.