I was tortured in jail, forced to apologise, says Priyanka Sharma who was arrested for sharing Mamata meme
Kolkata, May 15 (IBNS): Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) leader Priyanka Sharma, who was held by police for sharing a meme of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, said she was tortured inside jail and was also forced to apologise.
Sharma, who was released after the Supreme Court passed an order on Tuesday, had moved the top court.
She said: "I was not released even after getting bail. I was not released before 18 hours since the bail was ordered. Is it justified to be arrested for sharing meme? Whatever the Trinamool government doing is wrong. They have forced me to write apology to get bail. I was tortured and was also pushed in the jail."
"I just shared the meme. Action should have taken against the ones who made the meme," the BJYM leader added.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday granted a condition bail to Sharma subjected to tender an apology after the release from jail. But later, the top court modified its order and dropped the words "subject to".
What was the meme?
The photo was a morphed image of Banerjee photoshopped on actress Priyanka Chopra's Met Gala look.
Sharma was sent to 14-day judicial custody by a court.
Sharma has been charged under Section 500 of the IPC (defamation), and Sections 66A (offensive messages) and the non-bailable 67A (punishment for publishing or transmitting of material containing sexually explicit act, etc., in electronic form) of the Information Technology Act.
According to media reports, a police complaint by a Trinamool leader read that "this act broke the community guidelines and it was being viewed as an issue of violence."
"She not just tries to insult our Hon’ble Chief Minister, but she trying to insult the culture of our Bengal by her post on Facebook and which is Cyber Crime,” the complaint read, according to a daily.
A First Information Report (FIR) was lodged against her at Dasnagar Police Station in Howrah district.
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