New Delhi: Standing at the paramount of the Indian democracy, the directions of the Supreme Court of India to ‘immediate release’ BJP youth wing leader Priyanka Sharma complied by the Bengal government after 21 hours.
26-year-old BJP youth wing leader Priyanka Sharma was arrested by Bengal Police for circulating a meme on Mamata Banerjee. A day after vacation bench of Justices Indira Banerjee and Sanjiv Khanna granted her bail and ordered her immediate release, senior advocate Neeraj Kishan Kaul, appearing for Priyanka brother who had filed the petition, brought to the court notice that she had not so far been released in violation of the order.
On the other hand advocate Astha Sharma, appearing for the West Bengal government, informed the bench that Sharma had been released just an hour ago around 9.40am on Wednesday and submitted that the delay was because of completing the formalities as per the jail manual.
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On this the bench said, “Why 9:40am today? The order was passed in your presence. The jail manual can’t have precedence over an order of the Supreme Court. This is not done. First of all the arrest was prima facie arbitrary.”
The court then asked Kaul to verify whether she had been released as contended by the state government. Kaul, after consulting his client, informed the bench that she had been released from jail but alleged that she was forced to sign an apology letter before she was released.
The Bench had said in its order, “The detenue, Priyanka Sharma, is directed to be immediately released on bail. The detenue shall, however, at the time of release, tender an apology in writing for putting up/sharing pictures on her Facebook account.”