Following the Kavaratti police’s interrogation of Aisha Sultana at her residence in Kochi on Thursday, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has condemned the Lakshadweep police’s action against the filmmaker, reported The New Indian Express.
According to the report, the CPI(M) state committee alleged that the police were trying to frame her in a case and imprison her.
On Thursday, Lakshadweep’s Kavaratti police reached Aisha’s flat in Kochi to question the filmmaker in relation to the sedition case against her. Speaking to media persons after the interrogation, Aisha alleged that a five-member team from the Kavaratti police department visited her house without prior notice when she was engaged in the dubbing work for her upcoming film. She also said that the police had confiscated her brother’s laptop and sought details of her bank account, as per a report in The Hindu.
The CPI(M) state committee said, “There is a possibility that the police may create fake evidence against her using the laptop. The Lakshadweep administration is following the BJP government’s policy of crushing citizens’ rights.”
Meanwhile, on Friday, the Kavaratti police recorded the statement of Yuva Morcha state secretary BG Vishnu who participated in the channel discussion along with Aisha, during which she made the bio-weapon remark against the central government that led to the sedition case. In his statement, Vishnu said that Aisha had refused to withdraw her bio-weapon remark during the interview.
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On June 7, Aisha, a native of Chetlat island, participated in a panel discussion on Lakshadweep’s administrative crisis hosted by Media One Malayalam news channel. During the debate, Aisha said that the Central government had used a “bio-weapon” in Lakshadweep which caused the surge in Covid-19 cases. She received flak for her statement from a fellow speaker and representative of the BJP, and several others.
Aisha later clarified that her remark was aimed only at the island’s administrator Praful Patel, whose reform measures have been condemned by the people of Lakshadweep.
On June 10, based on a complaint filed by the BJP’s Lakshadweep unit president, Abdul Khader, the Kavaratti police registered a sedition case against Aisha. Following this, Aisha filed a plea for anticipatory bail and the Kerala High Court granted her an interim anticipatory bail for one week. And as per the court’s direction, Aisha Sultana appeared at the Kavaratti police headquarters for interrogation on June 20.