The Borneo Post (Sabah)

Indian party activist arrested over see-through dress meme

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Indian police have detained a ruling party activist after she posted a meme superimpos­ing the head of a state chief minister on a photograph of a Bollywood star in a see-through dress, an officer said.

The announceme­nt injected controvers­y into campaignin­g ahead of polls opening in West Bengal state, where the right wing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Trinamool Congress are locked in a tense battle for votes in the country’s general election.

Priyanka Sharma, a local BJP youth activist, was arrested for sharing a viral meme on Facebook that superimpos­ed the head of Trinamool leader and state chief minister Mamata Banerjee on a picture of actress Priyanka Chopra at the Met Gala in New York last week.

Sharma faces charges under India’s Informatio­n Technology Act which punishes the transmissi­on of ‘obscene’ or ‘lascivious’ material in electronic form, police told AFP in the city of Howrah.

“We arrested a BJP leader Priyanka Sharma Thursday after a complaint was lodged against her saying that she had posted a morphed photograph mocking the chief minister Mamata Banerjee on a social networking site,” said Anant Nag, Howrah police deputy commission­er.

He said the complaint had been made by a local leader from Banerjee’s party.

The Informatio­n Technology act and other laws have frequently been deployed by politician­s from all parties seeking to stifle social media criticism.

Another political worker was arrested in West Bengal last year for posting allegedly obscene pictures and comments about the chief minister, while two people were jailed in the state in 2017 after they criticised local police over traffic restrictio­ns.

In northern Uttar Pradesh state, a man was arrested last year for a post targeting the BJP chief minister Yogi Adityanath.

A journalist in northeaste­rn Manipur state was also jailed last year for allegedly criticisin­g the state’s BJP chief minister and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. — AFP

 ??  ?? Priyanka Chopra
Priyanka Chopra

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