Chennai, Sep 3: Louis Sophia, a Tamil Nadu-based writer, was arrested on Monday after she shouted 'Fascist BJP Government Down, Down' at Tamilisai Soundararajan, the Tamil Nadu president of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Following Sophia's arrest, #ReleaseSophia and #FascistBJPDownDown trended on Twitter by people who slammed the BJP for putting the writer behind bars just for raising a slogan.

Tamilisai Soundararajan got angry and entered into a verbal tiff with Sophia after the latter shouted 'Fascist BJP Government Down, Down' at Tuticorin airport. The police intervened and separated the two women. Following the incident, Sophia was arrested and charged with causing public nuisance under section 290 of the IPC and for causing breach of public peace under section 75(1)(C) of the Tamil Nadu City Police Act, 1888.

Sophia (25), who is said to be pursuing research in Canada, was returning home and was seated behind Soundararajan's third row seat. Suddenly she got up and shouted slogans against the BJP and the "fascist" government at the Centre, creating a flutter in the aircraft. On landing, the BJP leader got into a verbal duel with the student and lodged a complaint with the police who arrested her.

Soundararajan later told the media that the girl student rose in a "menacing" manner against her and felt there was a threat to her life in the manner in which she protested. Apart from tweeples, leaders of various political parties including the CPI-M, CPI and PMK criticized the police "high handedness" and demanded the woman's immediate release. People started tweeting with #ReleaseSophia to seek her immediate release.

Sophia, as an author, has reportedly written extensively on the Sterlite issue and the Chennai-Salem eight-lane highway project.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Sep 03, 2018 11:55 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).