2018 BJP Slogan on Flight: Madras HC Quashes Proceedings Against Lois Sophia

The Madras High Court has recently quashed a first information report (FIR) that had been lodged against research scholar Lois Sofia.

She had been charged for raising slogans against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on board a flight in 2018.

Justice P Dhanapal, sitting at the Madurai bench, delivered the ruling on Wednesday, nullifying all legal proceedings against Sofia in the 2018 case.

Although the comprehensive court order has yet to be published, D Geetha, the legal representative for Sofia, disclosed that the Court deemed the act of raising slogans as insufficient to qualify as a cognizable offense.

Lois Sofia, a research scholar hailing from Canada, found herself facing legal action in September 2018 after she vociferously exclaimed “fascist BJP government down, down” while on a flight bound for Thoothukudi. This incident transpired in the presence of Tamilisai Soundararajan, who was the former Tamil Nadu BJP president at the time and is currently serving as the Governor of Telangana.

Consequent to the slogan-raising, an altercation ensued between Soundararajan and Sofia at the airport. Subsequently, Soundararajan lodged a formal complaint against Sofia.

Sofia was formally charged under Sections 505 and 290 of the Indian Penal Code, which pertain to making statements that incite public mischief and causing public nuisance, respectively. Following her arrest, a Thoothukudi Court granted Sofia bail.

After the FIR against Sofia, her father, Dr A A Sami, a retired government doctor, in turn filed a complaint before Pudukkottai police against Tamilisai and her followers alleging that they abused, intimidated and threatened his daughter at the airport, and sought for registration of FIR against them for Sections 341 (wrongful restraint), Section 294(b) (uttering obscenity), 506(i)(criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code and for offenses under Tamil Nadu Woman Harassment Act. Since no action was taken by the police on the complaint, he approached the Judicial Magistrate. Consequently, the magistrate then directed the police to take action based on the complaint.