The Supreme Court on Tuesday granted bail to BJP Yuva Morcha leader Priyanka Sharma for morphing West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s face on the picture of actor Priyanka Chopra and posting it on social media platform, Facebook.
A Vacation Bench of Justices Indira Banerjee and Sanjeev Khanna, however, directed Ms. Sharma to apologise to the Chief Minister.
Freedom of speech should not infringe on other people’s rights, Justice Banerjee said addressing Ms. Sharma’s lawyers.
The court said Ms. Sharma would apologise in writing after she is released on bail. The Bench said the responsibility of a political leader to avoid such instances of morphing the photograph of a constitutional authority and misusing it is greater than than of an ordinary person. A politician, even a young leader like Ms. Sharma, should be prudent.
Though freedom of speech and expression is “non-negotiable”, it should not encroach on the rights of another person, the court observed.
Ms. Sharma was arrested on May 10 by the West Bengal Police under Section 500 (defamation) of the IPC and under other provisions of the Information Technology Act on the complaint of a local Trinamool Congress leader, Vibhas Hazra.
The Supreme Court had on Monday decided to hear the urgent plea made by the BJP Yuva Morcha leader. Senior advocate Neeraj Kishan Kaul, for Ms. Sharma, had submitted she was in judicial custody.
Ms. Sharma shared on Facebook a photo in which Ms. Banerjee’s face has been morphed on to actor Priyanka Chopra’s picture from the MET Gala event in New York. Ms. Sharma, against whom a complaint was filed at Dasnagar Police station, has been sent to two weeks’ judicial custody.