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Roy will decide on fine on Wednesday

Booker Prize-winning author Arundhati Roy, who was taken to the high-security Tihar Jail on Wednesday to serve the day's simple imprisonment awarded to her by the Supreme Court, has not yet decided whether to pay the fine imposed on her in addition to the sentence, her counsel Prashant Bhushan said.

"She will decide tomorrow whether to pay the fine," Bhushan told the Press Trust of India.

Asked when she would be released, Bhushan said her release would depend on her decision on the payment of the fine of Rs 2,000. If she does not pay the fine, she will have to undergo further imprisonment for three months.

Tara Shankar Sahay adds: Bhushan said the tenor, intent and purpose of the Supreme Court judgment holding her guilty of contempt was to "muzzle dissent and silence criticism".

Addressing an impromptu press conference outside the court on Bhagwan Das Road, Bhushan said the judgment "sends the signal to citizens in general and to the media in particular that anybody who dares to criticise the court will not be spared".

Bhushan said Roy had issued a statement before she was whisked away by the police, saying, "I stand by what I said and I am prepared to suffer the consequences. The dignity of the court will be upheld by the quality of their judgment... which will be assessed by the people of this country."

"The judgment only confirms what I had said in my affidavit," he quoted her statement as having said. "It is a sad realisation for me because I feel that the Supreme Court of India is an important institution. And the citizens of India have high expectations from this institution."

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