Lakshadweep filmmaker Aisha Sultana avoids arrest for a week over 'bio-weapon' jibe

Kerala High Court has granted Lakshadweep filmmaker Aisha Sultana interim protection from arrest for one week in the sedition case against her.

The court directed Sultana to co-operate with the Lakshadweep Police and appear before it for interrogation when needed.

The Lakshadweep Police had booked Sultana following a complaint filed by a BJP leader who alleged that the filmmaker had spread false information about the spread of Covid-19 on the island. 

The BJP leader alleged that remarks made by her about Lakshadweep Administrator Praful Patel while appearing on a television show amounted to an anti-national act.

Sultana allegedly remarked that the central government had relaxed Covid-19 quarantine restrictions for visitors to Lakshadweep to use Coronavirus as a bio-weapon against the natives of the island.

In her defence, Sultana said she had no intention of inciting any disaffection against the Lakshadweep administration. The filmmaker also said that she had taken to social media the very next after the controversy erupted and apologised for the statements.

In her application before the high court, the filmmaker had said that she had only wanted to point out that it was due to the apathetic approach and reforms of the new administrator that serious threat is being caused to the lives of the people of the island.

The prosecution, however, claimed that Sultana had practically sowed seeds of separatism in the minds of people. 

• Aisha Sultana
• Kerala High Court
• Lakshadweep
• Lakshadweep Police
• Bio-weapon remark
• Praful Khoda Patel