Aseem Trivedi arrested for drawing cartoons against corruption
Aseem Trivedi, a famous Indian political cartoonist and an activist, was arrested on the charges of sedition, cyber-crime and insulting the parliament, national flag and the constitution through his cartoons. His arrest is an unfortunate act against the right to freedom and speech in a democratic country like India.
ASEEM TRIVEDI who is from Kanpur, started his career as a freelance cartoonist and worked for various magazines and newspapers. He also supported the anti-corruption movement, led by
Anna Hazare, by doing a cartoon based campaign, known as 'Cartoons Against Corruption'. He also launched a website which exhibited his anti corruption cartoons, which targeted the corrupt political systems of India. He has also been awarded the 'Courage in Editorial Cartooning Award for 2012' by Cartoonists Rights Network International (CRNI).
Trivedi is a founder member of the movement against Internet censorship,' Save Your Voice'; this campaign was started when his website was banned. This campaign got a huge support and this movement went viral over the Internet; the main aim of the campaign was protesting, what activists called the draconian rules under the Information
Technology Act, 2000. The members of the campaign organized a protest near
Jantar Mantar by sitting inside a cage to symbolize how the IT rules have caged the freedom of the people.
But, this award winning political cartoonist was arrested in Mumbai over the weekend. The FIR on Aseem Trivedi was lodged on the basis of the complaint lodged by Amit Katarnavea, a lawyer and a member of the Republican Party of India, on December 30, 2011. Trivedi was arrested on Saturday by the Mumbai Police at the Bandra Kurla Complex police station in Mumbai.
The cartoonist was charged for sedition under Section 124 A of the Indian Penal Code, which is a non-bailable offense. He has also been charged under the IT Act and the 1971 National Emblem Act. As the cartoons of Trivedi have reportedly shown the Parliament as a commode and the national emblem with wolves replacing lions. Trivedi told the media that if saying truth and doing service to the nation makes him a traitor, then he is happy to be a traitor and will continue to do so and he is ready to get arrested.
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