He made light of the Ganga being declared a “living entity”, debated BJP’s promise of building a Ram Mandir and wondered why the Centre was not withdrawing the Haj subsidy given to Air India.

For his social media commentary, which the Uttar Pradesh Police considered criminal, Zakir Ali Tyagi said he had to spend 42 days in Muzaffarnagar jail with hardened criminals where he had to pay cash even to use the washroom.

The 18-year-old, who was picked up on the night of April 2, was charged under the Indian Penal Code’s Section 420 (cheating) and Section 66 of the Information Technology Act (computer related offences).

He was released on bail after 42 days, but the police has added Section 124A dealing with sedition in the charge sheet, lawyer Qazi Ahmed, who argued the bail case, told PTI. However, it could not be independently verified as a copy of the charge sheet was not available.