“My bail was granted yesterday, but still I wasn't released for another 18 hours. They didn't allow me to meet my advocate and family. They made me sign an apology,” she said.
“I will fight this case. I will not apologise,” Sharma said.
Supreme Court on Wednesday censured West Bengal government over delay in the release of Sharma who was arrested for sharing a morphed image of Mamata Banerjee. It termed the arrest of Sharma as “prima facie arbitrary”.
The apex court's observation came after counsel for Sharma's brother mentioned the matter before it and said that despite the court's order on Tuesday the activist has not been released from jail.
However, the counsel appearing for the West Bengal government told a vacation bench comprising justices Indira Banerjee and Sanjiv Khanna that Sharma has been released from jail at around 9:40 am on Wednesday.
The SC bench asked why she was not released immediately. "This is not done. First of all the arrest was prima facie arbitrary," the bench said and warned it would issue contempt against officials concerned if Sharma is not released immediately from jail.
The bench then asked the counsel representing Sharma's brother Rajib Sharma to take instruction on whether she has been released from jail or not. After a few minutes the counsel apprised the court that she has been released from jail.
Priyanka Sharma's counsel NK Kaul told the bench "Sharma is being released, but before her release she was asked to sign an apology letter prepared by the Police which says she will not post this again"
“I'm told, subject to verification, that she was released at 9:40-10:00 am & that too after made to sign a statement prepared by police. It reflects extremely disturbing trend that SC's order that said 'forthwith release her' wasn't followed for 24 hrs,” Sharma’s lawyer said.
The apex court had yesterday granted bail to Sharma and had asked her to tender a "written apology" at the time of her release from jail for sharing the meme on Banerjee.