Istanbul court convicted Former Miss Turkey, Merve Büyüksaraçand and served her with a 14 month arrest order, for posting a satirical poem on her Instagram account.
She was accused of insulting the President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, through this poem. Termed ‘The Master’s Poem’, it had adapted the national anthem of the country in its verses and was believed to criticize Mr. Erdogan. However, later on, this sentence was suspended on 1 condition that she shouldn’t offend him again in the next 5 years. No formal details are available on this.
A formal objection to the verdict would be filed by her lawyer and he would make an appeal at Strasbourg, France-based European Court Of Justice.
However, the 27-year-old model denied insulting the President and says;
“The poem I’ve shared was shared 960,000 times on social media. I shared the poem via giving quotes from it. The comments near the pictures and the poems, which are in the bill of indictment, don’t belong to me,”
Merve also added, “I shared it because I found it funny. I had no intention to insult President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan,”
As compared to this, freedom of speech in India is much better, don’t you think so? We saw how Tanmay Bhat insulted Sachin Tendulkar and Lata Mangeshkar with his spoof video, but no one could take any action. He had openly shared such an ‘INSULTING VIDEO’ on social media, but owing to ‘Freedom of speech’, he is safe.
What is your opinion guys? Should such laws be applicable in India too?
