Chennai, Sept 4: A court in Tuticorin granted bail to 25-year-old student Louis Sophia, who was arrested on Monday after being involved in a heated a verbal duel with BJP's Tamil Nadu unit chief Tamilisai Soundararajan.

Sophia was arrested last night after she raised slogans against the BJP-led government at the Centre. "Fascist BJP government down, down," the student reportedly shouted at the airport.

The security personnel, after heeding to the complaint of Soundararajan, arrested Sophia and booked her under IPC section 290 (causing public nuisance) and section 75(1)(C) of the Tamil Nadu City Police Act 1888 for "breaching public peace".

Although Sophia was arrested, she received support from the state's Opposition parties, who accused the AIADMK regime in the state and the BJP government at the Centre of "attempting to muzzle dissent".

Faced with flak, Soundararajan, who is at the centre of the controversy, addressed the press today. Putting the onus of the entire incident on Sophia, the BJP state chief said the student's "character was questionable"

Sophia, who sitting behind Soundararajan in the Tuticorin-bound flight yesterday, began the quarrel onboard the flight, the BJP leader alleged. "Throughout the journey, she kept raising slogans against me and the BJP. But I tolerated. After getting down at the airport, she continued with the slogans which forced me to complaint," Soundararajan said.

Meanwhile, the DMK has demanded the dismissal of charges levelled by the police against Sophia, saying it would hurt the freedom of speech and expression guaranteed by the Constitution. Party chief MK Stalin said he would reiterate that the BJP government at the Centre is "fascist", daring the police to arrest him and his followers.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Sep 04, 2018 12:38 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).