Five Things To Know About The Sedition Case Against Assamese Writer Sikha Sarma

Sikha Sarma arrested: The Guwahati police on Tuesday arrested a 48-year-old Assamese writer, Sikha Sarma, on charges of sedition and other offences for an alleged Facebook post. The Guwahati-based writer is accused in an FIR of “causing disrespect to martyrs” and allegedly making controversial comments against Martyrs on social media. This comes after 22 personnel were recently killed in a Maoist attack in Chattisgarh.

She was arrested under “various sections, including IPC 124A (sedition)”, Guwahati Police Commissioner Munna Prasad Gupta said adding, “She will be produced in court tomorrow.”

Here are five things to know about the arrested writer Sikha Sarma:

1. Sarma hails from Guwahati and is a vocal critic of the state government. A case is lodged against her in Dispur police over “distasteful remarks" in the alleged Facebook post, which seemed to allude to Saturday’s Maoist massacre of 22 security personnel in Chhattisgarh, The Indian Express reported.

2. Sarma, known for speaking her mind during various television debates and on social media, had allegedly written a Facebook post on Monday: “Salaried professionals who die in the line of duty cannot be termed martyrs. Going by that logic, electricity department workers who die of electrocution should also be labelled martyrs. Do not make people sentiment, media.”

3. After receiving flak online, Sarma responded with a post on Monday night saying, “Isn’t misrepresenting my post mental harassment? Will the false propaganda against me come under rule of law? Why has (there) been no investigation regrind the FIR I filed about the murder and intimidation threats I received earlier?”

4. According to her Facebook profile, Sarma is employed as an artist for All India Radio, Dibrugarh.

5. Last October, Sarma allegedly received rape threats for her anti-government post on social media. Many had demanded arrest of the youth for such obnoxious and derogatory language used against Sarma.

Feature Image Credit: Indian Express