Scholar who called BJP ‘fascist’ gets bail

A research scholar arrested for calling a senior Bharatiya (BJP) Janata Party leader a fascist on a Tuticorin-Chennai flight was given bail on Tuesday as her father accused the police of harassment.

S Lois Sophia, 28, allegedly shouted “down, down, fascist BJP, down, down” when she saw Dr Tamilisai Soundararajan, president of BJP’s Tamil Nadu unit, on the flight. She allegedly repeated her comments when she saw Tamilisai at Tuticorin airport’s baggage collection point after the flight.

Sophia, who studies in the University of Montreal, Canada, was sent to 15 days of judicial custody after Tamilisai filed a complaint against her with the airport police. “My daughter did not make any derogatory comments against the BJP leader. She just criticised the party. It is not a personal attack. Earlier police said that they will release her in the night, but they later asked me to get bail from court,” said Sophia’s father Samy, a doctor in Tuticorin, on Tuesday.

Tamilisai said she felt threatened. “While Sophia raised slogans against me in the aircraft, I remained calm. However, even when she repeated the same outside, I felt that I was not secure. I also have my rights and privacy, so I lodged a complaint ...” she said. DMK president M K Stalin protested Sophia’s arrest. “If the police want to arrest people for criticising BJP, they have to arrest more than a lakh. I too say this: ‘fascist BJP down, down’,” he tweeted.

TTV Dhinakaran, RK Nagar MLA, criticised the police too. “...Though Sophia’s father lodged a complaint against Tamilisai, the police have reacted only for Tamilisai’s complaint.”

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