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Madras HC quashes case against student activist Sofia
In 2018, Sofia, who was travelling to Thoothukudi in the same flight with Tamilisai, shouted slogans saying, “fascist BJP government down down” inside the aircraft, shortly after it landed
The Madras high court on Wednesday quashed a case filed against Sofia Lois, the student-activist, for raising slogans against the then Tamil Nadu Bharatiya Janata Party chief Tamilsai Soundararajan in a flight.
In its order, the court said that the case against her was non-cognisable offence and the police have no jurisdiction to investigate the matter.
In 2018, Sofia, who was travelling to Thoothukudi in the same flight with Tamilisai, shouted slogans saying, “fascist BJP government down down” inside the aircraft, shortly after it landed. Sofia made these slogans in the aftermath of the Thoothukudi’s Sterlite protest in which 13 people were killed in police firing.
Enraged by the sloganeering, Tamilisai engaged in a verbal spat with Sofia at the airport and subsequently filed a complaint against her.
Sofia’s lawyer D Geetha said, “The court said that raising slogans did not come under a cognisable offence; and the police cannot investigate the case under section 155 of Code of Criminal Procedure (No police officer shall investigate a non- cognisable case without the order of a magistrate). The court also pointed out that the slogan ‘fascist BJP government down down’ did not constitute an offence.”
According to the lawyer, the court said that the slogan was a trivial matter.
Tamilisai Soundararajan is now governor of Telangana and lieutenant governor of Union Territory of Puducherry.
Following the verdict, Sofia in her tweet reiterated the slogan and wrote, “After almost five years, today the Madras high court has quashed the FIR and charge sheet against me.”
