MAMATA MEME: SC TO HEAR BAIL PLEA OF BJP LEADER TODAY

The Supreme Court on Tuesday will hear a petition by Bharatiya Janata Party youth leader Priyanka Sharma challenging her arrest by West Bengal police for allegedly sharing a morphed photograph of chief minister Mamata Banerjee on social media.

Sharma, who is based in Kolkata, was taken into custody 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 leader of BJP Yuva Morcha was charged under IPC Section 500 (defamation), and sections 66A (offensive content) and 67A (distributing sexually explicit material) of the Information and Technology (IT) Act.

On Monday, a vacation bench comprising justices Indira Banerjee and Sanjiv Khanna, took note of her plea.

Sharma is currently in judicial custody.

Sharma, who will seek bail from the top court, was sent to jail for two weeks after a Trinamool worker filed a police complaint.

Sharma’s advocate said a defamation case can only be filed by the aggrieved party, and not a third person. In this case, however, TMC chief Mamata Banerjee is not the complainant.