[dropcap]T[/dropcap]HE Supreme Court on Monday, July 01, 2019, issued a show-cause notice to the West Bengal Government on a contempt petition alleging that the release of BJP worker Priyanka Sharma, arrested for sharing a meme of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, was delayed despite a court order on May 14, 2019, to release her from jail immediately..A three-judge bench comprising Chief Justice of India (CJI) Ranjan Gogoi, Justices Deepak Gupta and Aniruddha Bose has asked the West Bengal Government to reply to the contempt petition, filed by the brother of Priyanka Sharma, in four weeks..Priyanka Sharma was arrested by the West Bengal police and sent to 14 days judicial custody for sharing a meme of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Facebook..On May 14, 2019, a two-judge vacation bench of the Supreme Court, comprising Justices Indira Banerjee and Sanjiv Khanna had ordered the immediate release of Sharma followed by an apology by her for sharing the meme. The Court, at the same time, had issued a notice to the West Bengal government on the larger issue of freedom of expression.
