Lois Sofia
(Source: Twitter)

If you go through the twitter timeline of 28-year-old Lois Sofia, you will find her to be a vocal critic of the BJP-led Central government and a staunch believer of the left-wing ideology. She has been raising her voice against the killings of 14 anti-sterlite protestors by the Tamil Nadu police in Thoothukudi. She seems to be a supporter of Dalit and women rights as well. 

You will also notice that the young lady even showed her solidarity with the five human rights activists who were arrested by the Maharashtra police recently in relation to the Bhima Koregaon violence. Such liberal voices of dissent have constantly been under threat under the Modi regime and what happened with Sofia on September 3 proved it once again. 

Sofia has come in the spotlight after she raised anti-BJP slogans on-board a flight while she was travelling with her parents. Sofia, who is currently studying in Canada shouted "fascist BJP government down, down" inside the flight in the presence of Tamil Nadu BJP president Tamilisai Soundararajan. In no time, she was arrested by the Tuticorin airport police after Soundararajan decided to file a complaint against her. 

Sofia, however has been granted bail by a Thoothukudi court on Tuesday but her arrest has raised the long-standing question on exercising one's right to freedom of speech once again. Her arrest has invited outrage against the Tamil Nadu police and the AIADMK government from all sections of society. DMK Chief MK Stalin criticised Sofia's arrest by accusing the Tamil Nadu government of stifling her right to freedom of speech. 

The DMK chief took to his twitter handle and said that if the government was going to arrest everybody who dared to speak against the ruling dispensation, then he too would reutter Sofia's words. "The Tamil Nadu government's anti-democratic actions, against the right to free speech, are highly condemnable. She must be released immediately. How many people will be imprisoned if you arrest everyone who says that? I will also say it. 'BJP's fascist government down, down'," Stalin tweeted. 

Soundararajan also tweeted and criticised politicians from the state who were supporting Sofia. "Surprised to see reactions of few TN leaders in support of her unruly behavior inside aircraft claiming it as Democratic right. Will they accept a similar situation happens for them during their next air journey inside plane. Will they or their cadre keep quiet as Democratic right?" the BJP Tamil Nadu chief posted. 

The police had charged Sofia under Sections 505 (statements conducive to public mischief), 209 (creating public nuisance) of the Indian Penal Code and under Section 75 of the Tamil Nadu City Police Act.

Media reports have quoted Sofia's father, Dr AA Samy, a retired government doctor as telling that when he reached the terminal after landing at the Tuticorin airport from Chennai with his wife and Sofia, Soundararajan and some ten men surrounded them and started firing abusive words at his daughter. A few even issued death threats to her until the airport police came to their rescue and took them to a secured room. 

Dr Samy has registered a complaint against the people who bullied his daughter and issued death threats against her but no arrests have been made by the police in this regard.

Sofia is a doctoral student of Physics at Canada's University of Montreal. As a writer, she has been extensively covering the anti-Sterlite protests and the protests against the Chennai-Salem eight-lane highway project.

Her arrest has outraged people on Twitter and the hashtags #FascistBJP and #Sophia are being used by thousands to show their support for Sofia. "There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest," tweeted one user. 

Pakistani journalist Hamid Mir wrote that democracy in Pakistan was in a better condition than the Indian democracy citing an instance when he had been banned from television but was never arrested for declaring Pervez Musharraf as a liberal fascist. "Ohhhh my dictator was better than your elected PM.I wrote it many times and declared Pervez Musharraf a liberal fascist Musharraf banned me on TV but never arrested me now a democratic Govt in India arrested a student who only said Modi is a fascist," Mir tweeted. 

Most of the twitter users felt that by arresting Sofia, the government just proved her point. They even appreciated her courage and guts to raise such a slogan in front of a BJP leader. 

Here's how twitterati reacted to Sofia's arrest and raised their voice against the government's actions:

 Meanwhile, BJP leader Subramanian Swamy has said that Sofia could be a member of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). Speaking to news agency ANI, the BJP leader said that police should probe about Sofia. "Because if she is coming from Canada, she could very well be LTTE. Because a lot of Tamils in Canada are LTTE people and they use this word 'fascist' for the BJP." the news agency quoted Swamy as saying.