{"id":39652,"date":"2012-09-10T13:28:55","date_gmt":"2012-09-10T12:28:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.indexoncensorship.org\/?p=39652"},"modified":"2017-03-28T12:58:37","modified_gmt":"2017-03-28T11:58:37","slug":"aseem-trivedi-arrest-india","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.indexoncensorship.org\/newsite02may\/?p=39652","title":{"rendered":"Indian cartoonist arrested on sedition charges"},"content":{"rendered":"

The arrest of an anti-corruption cartoonist in India on sedition charges has sparked outrage. Marta Cooper reports<\/strong><\/p>\n

Indian anti-corruption cartoonist Aseem Trivedi has been arrested and charged with sedition, Index has learned.<\/p>\n

Trivedi, 25, was held in Mumbai over the weekend for displaying cartoons allegedly mocking the Indian constitution during an anti-corruption protest in Mumbai last year led by campaigner Anna Hazare. Trivedi was charged with sedition under Section 124 (A) of the Indian Penal Code, and also charged under the IT Act and the 1971 National Emblem Act for insulting India\u2019s national symbols.<\/p>\n

It is understood Trivedi will remain in judicial custody<\/a> until 24 September. He was originally remanded in custody until 16 September.<\/p>\n

Last week Trivedi claimed he would\u00a0surrender<\/a> to Mumbai police, who had issued an arrest warrant for him. In January a case of treason was filed against Trivedi, with additional charges brought against him by the Mumbai High Court for insulting India\u2019s national symbols.<\/p>\n

In a statement yesterday,<\/a>\u00a0Justice Markandey Katju, chairman of the Press Council of India, defended the cartoonist. \u201cMy opinion is that the cartoonist did nothing illegal. In a democracy many things are said, some truthful and others false,\u201d Katju said. Speaking to the Wall Street Journal<\/a> on Friday, Trivedi said his cartoons \u201cdid nothing but tell the truth.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n
\"Aseem<\/a>

Campaigners in support of cartoonist Aseem Trivedi<\/i><\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cIt is stupid for the government to react this way,\u201d Kunal Majumder, principal correspondent at Tehelka.com<\/a> told Index.<\/p>\n

\u201cHere we are laughing at Pakistan for trying to prosecute an 11-year-old girl for blasphemy, but in our country we\u2019re trying to prosecute someone for sedition.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes it\u2019s funny we call ourselves the largest democracy on earth,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Trivedi\u2019s case is not the first time cartoons have stirred controversy in India. In May this year, various parliamentarians raised objections to cartoons<\/a> appearing in educational textbooks which lampooned BR Ambedkar, who drafted the country\u2019s constitution.<\/p>\n

Majumder sees Trivedi\u2019s arrest as part of a wider trend against freedom of expression. Last month the country cracked down heavily on social networks<\/a>, ordering internet service providers (ISPs) to block hundreds of websites the government claimed added to deadly communal tensions in Assam. Under government pressure, Facebook pledged to remove content, block pages or even disable account of users who upload content that incites violence or perpetuate hate speech. In a desperate bid to quell tensions, the Indian government also banned SMS messages directed to more than five recipients.<\/p>\n

Separately, India\u2019s ministry of telecommunications\u00a0also requested<\/a> ISPs block several Twitter accounts that parodied Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Twitter said it was \u201cco-operating\u201d with the government.<\/p>\n

Earlier this year, Trivedi\u2019s own website, cartoonsagainstcorruption.com, was\u00a0suspended<\/a> after a complaint from a Mumbai lawyer that it showcased \u201cdefamatory and derogatory\u201d content.<\/p>\n

Marta Cooper is an editorial researcher at Index. She tweets at @martaruco<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The arrest of an anti-corruption cartoonist in India on sedition charges has sparked outrage. Marta Cooper<\/strong> reports<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":57,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_mi_skip_tracking":false},"categories":[4061,581],"tags":[4142,4143,103,571,100,2757],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.indexoncensorship.org\/newsite02may\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39652"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.indexoncensorship.org\/newsite02may\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.indexoncensorship.org\/newsite02may\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.indexoncensorship.org\/newsite02may\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/57"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.indexoncensorship.org\/newsite02may\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=39652"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/www.indexoncensorship.org\/newsite02may\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39652\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":88511,"href":"https:\/\/www.indexoncensorship.org\/newsite02may\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39652\/revisions\/88511"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.indexoncensorship.org\/newsite02may\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=39652"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.indexoncensorship.org\/newsite02may\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=39652"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.indexoncensorship.org\/newsite02may\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=39652"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}