Sedition case filed against Indian actress for siding with Pakistan

Sedition case has been filed against Indian actress-politician Divya Spandana for ‘anti-national’ comments. The actress was quoted as saying that ‘Pakistan is not hell. People there are just like us. They treated us very well’.

Spandana visited Pakistan when she attended a South Asian Association of Regional Cooperation (SAARC) conference in Islamabad last year. She made these comments after Indian Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar remarked that going to Pakistan was like ‘going to hell’.

After making these comments, Spandana came under fire from fellow countrymen and a lawyer went on to file a sedition case against her. Katnamane Vittal Gowda, the lawyer who filed this complaint, said that he was appalled by her statement, which he dubbed as ‘anti-national’. Now Spandana will have to make court appearances since she has been nominated in the complaint.

Spandana, whose screen name is Ramya, said that she was shocked for being nominated in this case and that there is no question of apologizing. She further added that she was ‘entitled to freedom of speech’, therefore she does not owe anyone an apology.

“It’s important that the sedition law gets repealed. [I] didn’t do anything wrong. Pakistanis are good people, just like us,” she said, adding that she did not blame anyone because “people are very passionate about nationalism”.

Spandana has been associated with the Indian National Congress since 2011 and she regularly attends such conferences in different parts of the world.

Many came out in support of the actress on Twitter after the case was filed against her.

Short URL: https://www.newspakistan.pk/?p=53892

Posted by fatimaarshad on Aug 23 2016. Filed under Pakistan. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.