Poonam Mahajan expresses satisfaction over bail to Priyanka Sharma

BJP leader Poonam Mahajan on Tuesday expressed satisfaction after the Supreme Court granted bail to Priyanka Sharma, who had been arrested last week for a meme on Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.

Mahajan said: "The kind of anarchy that is rampant in West Bengal is a serious matter. I want to thank the Supreme Court for granting bail to Priyanka Sharma."

"However, to ask her to write an apology letter puts a question mark on freedom of speech for the youth. We will see how we take it forward," Mahajan told ANI.

BJP general secretary Kailash Vijayavargiya said: "I want to thank the SC. This is an appropriate response to Mamata Banerjee's cruelty. It is a victory for democracy."

Sharma, convenor of the Bharatiya Janata Party's youth wing in Howrah, had on May 9 posted a picture of actor Priyanka Chopra at the recent Metropolitan Museum Gala in New York with Banerjee's face allegedly superimposed on the actor.

In Howrah, her family distributed sweets and thanked the Supreme Court for granting her bail. Sharma's mother Raj Kumari said that the state government's decision to arrest her daughter was not right.