Outrage grows over cartoonist's arrest
Cartoonist Aseem Trivedi, who is lodged at Mumbai's Arthur Jail on charges of sedition, is allowed a maximum five visitors at a time as an undertrial. Among those the 25-year-old is likely to meet today is anti-corruption activist Arvid Kejriwal, who will visit him around 11 this morning. Mr Trivedi has gone from little known to trending in a matter of days. He was arrested over the weekend on the complaint of a Mumbai lawyer who took umbrage at Mr Trivedi's anti-corruption cartoons, especially one that re-interpreted the Ashok Chakra national emblem. He has refused a lawyer and bail after a local court sent him to jail for 14 days yesterday. He wants the sedition charge against him dropped.
The Mumbai police, who arrested Mr Trivedi on Saturday saying he had serious charges against him and were give a week's custody, dropped him like a hot potato on Monday, telling a local court that they were done with questioning him and were surrendering custody. Mr Trivedi was has been charged with allegedly uploading "ugly and obscene" matter on his web portal and putting up objectionable banners insulting the Indian Constitution during an Anna Hazare protest in Mumbai last year.
The cartoonist from Kanpur is now a hero of free speech. The image of a young, intense, bespectacled man with a beard and dressed in black shouting slogans everytime he has been brought into public ever since his arrest, has caught the imagination of many. Social media pages in his support have sprung up overnight on the Internet and there are hot debates between those who say he was wrong in his depiction of the national emblem and those who are die-hard proponents of free speech.
The cartoonist has controversially depicted the national emblem of India replacing lions with wolves with blood dripping from their mouths, suggesting that corruption is devouring the nation. He insists that all his actions are in national interest and has said, "If telling the truth makes me a traitor then I am one." Before being taken to jail on Sunday he had said, "If I am booked under sedition for doing service to the nation then I will continue to do so."
The police and the government have been slammed by media and activists for the arrest; they describe it as evidence of a lack of respect for freedom of expression. Arvind Kejriwal said at a press conference yesterday that Mr Trivedi should be released unconditionally and all the charges against him, including the "baseless" sedition charge, must be dropped. "I know Aseem personally. He is not a traitor. Traitors are those who clash in Parliament or those who sell off coal blocks at a pittance," he said.
Mr Kejriwal's fellow activist Prashant Bhushan, who is also a leading lawyer, said, "The sedition charge is constantly being misused by the government. It should only be used only if someone incites violence. By no stretch of imagination was Aseem promoting violence." Mr Trivedi's supporters allege that he is being targeted by the government for supporting activist Anna Hazare's anti-corruption movement, of which Mr Kejriwal and Mr Bhushan were prominent members.
The government, on the backfoot, has said people cannot be allowed to "cross the line." Minister for Information and Broadcasting Ambika Soni said, "We are not against democratic rights, we are all for free speech... people have made cartoons of Nehru, Indira earlier. But there is a thin line you draw between free speech and what can be termed as offensive especially against national symbols."
http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/outrage-grows-over-cartoonist-s-arrest-arvind-kejriwal-to-meet-aseem-trivedi-in-jail-today-265636?pfrom=home-otherstories
See also: Sedition and the death of free speech by Siddharth Narrain, in
Infochange Agenda # on censorship: The Limits of Freedom
This cartoon just about sums up Indian politics today
The Mumbai police, who arrested Mr Trivedi on Saturday saying he had serious charges against him and were give a week's custody, dropped him like a hot potato on Monday, telling a local court that they were done with questioning him and were surrendering custody. Mr Trivedi was has been charged with allegedly uploading "ugly and obscene" matter on his web portal and putting up objectionable banners insulting the Indian Constitution during an Anna Hazare protest in Mumbai last year.
The cartoonist from Kanpur is now a hero of free speech. The image of a young, intense, bespectacled man with a beard and dressed in black shouting slogans everytime he has been brought into public ever since his arrest, has caught the imagination of many. Social media pages in his support have sprung up overnight on the Internet and there are hot debates between those who say he was wrong in his depiction of the national emblem and those who are die-hard proponents of free speech.
The cartoonist has controversially depicted the national emblem of India replacing lions with wolves with blood dripping from their mouths, suggesting that corruption is devouring the nation. He insists that all his actions are in national interest and has said, "If telling the truth makes me a traitor then I am one." Before being taken to jail on Sunday he had said, "If I am booked under sedition for doing service to the nation then I will continue to do so."
The police and the government have been slammed by media and activists for the arrest; they describe it as evidence of a lack of respect for freedom of expression. Arvind Kejriwal said at a press conference yesterday that Mr Trivedi should be released unconditionally and all the charges against him, including the "baseless" sedition charge, must be dropped. "I know Aseem personally. He is not a traitor. Traitors are those who clash in Parliament or those who sell off coal blocks at a pittance," he said.
Mr Kejriwal's fellow activist Prashant Bhushan, who is also a leading lawyer, said, "The sedition charge is constantly being misused by the government. It should only be used only if someone incites violence. By no stretch of imagination was Aseem promoting violence." Mr Trivedi's supporters allege that he is being targeted by the government for supporting activist Anna Hazare's anti-corruption movement, of which Mr Kejriwal and Mr Bhushan were prominent members.
The government, on the backfoot, has said people cannot be allowed to "cross the line." Minister for Information and Broadcasting Ambika Soni said, "We are not against democratic rights, we are all for free speech... people have made cartoons of Nehru, Indira earlier. But there is a thin line you draw between free speech and what can be termed as offensive especially against national symbols."
http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/outrage-grows-over-cartoonist-s-arrest-arvind-kejriwal-to-meet-aseem-trivedi-in-jail-today-265636?pfrom=home-otherstories
See also: Sedition and the death of free speech by Siddharth Narrain, in
Infochange Agenda # on censorship: The Limits of Freedom
This cartoon just about sums up Indian politics today
