'False' news on COVID-19: Filmmaker Ayesha Sulthana booked by Lakshadweep Police for sedition

After a politician filed a complaint against filmmaker Ayesha Sulthana, Lakshadweep Police recently booked her on charges of sedition. According to reports, a politician lodged an FIR with the Kavaratti police and claimed that the filmmaker had spread false news about the spread of COVID-19 in the union territory during a TV debate. In his complaint with the police, the politician said that during a debate on a Malayalam TV channel, Ayesha Sulthana had alleged that the Central government used biological weapons for the spread of COVID-19 in Lakshadweep. Further, while calling the filmmaker's speech an 'anti-national' act, the politician also accused her of tarnishing the 'patriotic image' of the central government. Meanwhile, after witnessing the strong protest by the members of a political outfit in the islands seeking action against the filmmaker, the police registered the case under sections 124 A (sedition) and 153 B (hate speech) of the Indian Penal code against her. A few days back, a youth wing leader had also called out the filmmaker for the same and filed a complaint at the Thiruvananthapuram Cantonment police station. While talking to a news portal, he had said, 'Ayesha Sulthana is aware that a petition filed in the High Court against the guidelines issued by the Lakshadweep Administrator on controlling the spread of Covid disease on the island has been rejected. Yet she is knowingly spreading false propaganda.' For the unversed, Ayesha Sulthana has worked with several Malayalam filmmakers as well.