Police question activist Aisha Sultana in Kochi

Thiruvananthapuram The Lakshadweep police on Thursday questioned activist and filmmaker Aisha Sultana in Kochi in connection with the sedition case

Thiruvananthapuram The Lakshadweep police on Thursday questioned activist and filmmaker Aisha Sultana in Kochi in connection with the sedition case. The filmmaker, however, alleged it was part of a bigger plan to harass and torture her. She said the island police descended on her flat without any notice and questioning continued for many hours.

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“It was least expected. I have to rush from my shooting site after my brother informed about it. It is part of the harassment and torture plan,” she later told media persons in the port city. Two weeks back she had appeared before the island police in Kavartti and they questioned her for five days.

Sultana landed in trouble after she made a remark in a TV panel discussion in early June that the union government’s decision to relax Covid-19 restrictions and appointment of the new administrator Praful Khoda Patel were a bio-weapon against the people of the archipelago. On June 11, the Kavaratti police registered a case against her under sections 124 (A) (sedition) and 153 (B) (acts against national interests) of the Indian Penal Code.

The case was based on the complaint of Lakshadweep BJP president C Abdul Khadar Haji who said her words were in bad taste and had hurt many. Though Sultana later expressed regrets over her words the union government took a strong position saying that her words were used widely by foreign media to portray the country in bad light. The Kerala high court had granted anticipatory bail to her but it refused to quash the case without hearing all parties concerned.