Sofia didn’t shout inside plane: Lawyer

If Sofia had raised slogans in the aircraft, the pilot and the flight crew would have filed a complaint with the Airport authorities. She did not even raise her hands and her voice was not even heard by fellow passengers. It was exaggerated by Tamilisai,” Tiphagne told reporters.  

Further, he said that after the incident, police took Sofia to the police station without producing any arrest memo or warrant. “They tortured her in the police station by asking her the same questions over seven hours. Even now, police are threatening her family,” said Tiphagne. 

In the FIR produced to her, she saw that she was booked under two bailable sections, 290 of the IPC and 75 of Tamil Nadu Police Act, and she signed it. However, a non-bailable section, 505 of the IPC, was added in writing to the FIR when it was produced in the Magistrate’s house. Nevertheless, the judge refused to remand her under section 505 of the IPC. When advocates tried to file a bail petition, the judge reportedly told the lawyers that he will not accept the bail petition in his house. “When the judge could accept the remand petition in his house, what prompted him to refuse bail petition,” questioned Tiphagne. 

He further said that when the bail petition was filed the next day, the judge asked Sofia’s father to withdraw the complaint filed against Tamilisai Soundararajan. “A judge has no right to ask a person to withdraw a complaint and it amounts to violation of rules,” he said.

Moreover, he said that all rules were violated in the filing of the FIR against Sofia and that police had not acted on the complaint of Sofia’s father. If state government do not withdraw the case filed against Sofia, they had to proceed against the state government for not acting on the compliant of Sofia’s father and against Tamilisai Soundararajan under Scheduled Castes/Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, said Tiphagne.