Payal Rohatgi sent to jail for 8 days for her posts on social media

Actor Payal Rohatgi was arrested for her social media posts and was sent to judicial custody on Monday for eight days by a court in Bundi, about 200 km from Rajasthan capital Jaipur. She was brought from Ahmedabad by the police. A Congress leader registered on a complaint for allegedly posting objectionable content on social media sites against Nehru-Gandhi family. The actor was formally placed under arrest by the Bundi police Monday morning and produced before the judge.

Charmesh Sharma, general secretary of the Rajasthan Youth Congress, had filed a police complaint against Rohatgi at the Sadar police station in Bundi on October 2. In his complaint, Sharma alleged that Rohatgi posted “obnoxious and controversial” content against the Nehru-Gandhi family on her Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts on September 6 and September 21 this year. Charmesh had alleged that Payal Rohatgi not only defamed the Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi through falsehoods but also spread vulgarity and disgraced women character.

Payal Rohatgi was arrested under the information technology law and two provisions of the penal code relating to intentional insult to provoke breach of peace. She had requested the Bundi court for anticipatory bail on 13 December but the court had put off the hearing till today.