Arrest over Mamata Banerjee meme latest in long line of similar rows

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The arrest of Priyanka Sharma, a BJP youth wing activist for posting a morphed picture of Mamata Banerjee on the social media platform, Facebook, is the latest event in a series of such arrests in the country. Priyanka Sharma was arrested for sharing a meme which had a morphed image of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's face on Priyanka Chopra's recent Met Gala look.

In 2012, a professor from Kolkata shared TMC or Mamata Banerjee cartoons on social media and landed in jail. Prof Ambikesh Mahapatra was arrested for sharing a cartoon of Mamata Banerjee to his friends. Ambikesh Mahapatra, professor of chemistry was assaulted by alleged TMC workers while he was on his way back from work and jailed for a night.

Cartoonist Aseem Trivedi Trivedi In Maharashtra was arrested in 2012 for depicting the national emblem and Parliament in "bad light" in his cartoons, triggering a public outcry. Cartoons by this artist included one of the national emblem with lions replaced by blood-thirsty wolves, and another depicting the New Delhi Parliament building as a huge toilet bowl. He spent four days in jail as was charged with sedition. This set an outrage from freedom of expression campaigners. His arrest sparked protests against the government, which was accused of using British colonial-era sedition laws to crack down on dissent.

Two girls in 2012, were arrested in Maharashtra over their Facebook post questioning the shutdown for Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray's funeral in Mumbai with the comment also attacking on the clinic of an uncle of one of them by Sena activists. The girls identified as Renu and Shaheen Dhada were sent to 14-day judicial custody but granted bail within hours after they furnished personal bonds. Dhada was arrested for posting comments on the
social networking site questioning the shutdown in Mumbai, saying "one should not observe bandh for Thackeray's funeral." While her frined Renu, was arrested for 'liking' the post.

In 2015, folk singer and anti-alcohol campaigner Shiva Raj aka Comrade Kovan In Tamil Nadu was arrested in 2015 and charged with sedition for allegedly criticising then the chief minister J Jayalalithaa in one of his songs on the issue of prohibition. The police had said he allegedly uploaded defamatory content on social media against Jayalalithaa and made insulting remarks on her at a village function.

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Edited by mid-day online desk with inputs from Agencies