Indian cartoonist to accept bail, leave prison: Lawyer
Aseem Trivedi, whose sketches often mock the government for corruption, was scheduled to walk out of the Arthur Road jail in Mumbai after the city's High Court said he could be released on a bond of 5,000 rupees ($90).
"He has accepted to be released on bail," his lawyer Vijay Hiremath told AFP, saying the case was now being reviewed. "We are hopeful that they will drop the charges."
The arrest on Saturday of Trivedi, a freelance cartoonist and anti-graft campaigner, sparked a backlash against the government, which has been accused of using colonial-era sedition laws to crush dissent.
Human Rights Watch joined the chorus of protest on Wednesday, calling for the "politically motivated" charges to be dropped immediately.
"Arresting cartoonists for their stinging satire is a hallmark of a dictatorship, not a democracy," Meenakshi Ganguly, the group's South Asia director, said.
"The obvious abuse of the sedition law to silence Trivedi should be the case that prompts the abolition of this law."
Trivedi was arrested in Mumbai under laws governing sedition, information technology and protecting India's national flag and constitution, after a private complaint from a young lawyer.
Cartoons on Trivedi's website include one of the national emblem with lions replaced by blood-thirsty wolves and another depicting the parliament in New Delhi as a huge toilet bowl.
One sketch titled "Gang Rape of Mother India" shows a woman draped in the Indian flag being held down by a politician and a bureaucrat as a horned animal depicting corruption appears ready to attack her.
A court on Monday had ordered the cartoonist to be held in custody until September 24.
Media rights groups Reporters without Borders and the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) have also called for Trivedi to be freed and all charges dropped.
His arrest came after India ordered more than 300 websites, social networking pages, Twitter accounts and other online content to be blocked last month in an attempt to halt the spread of rumors’ about ethnic violence.
In the most famous recent sedition case, Indian doctor and human rights activist Binayak Sen was jailed for life in 2010 for allegedly helping Maoist rebels.
He was freed on bail last year on the instructions of the Supreme Court.
India has lately shown sensitivity to criticism of its leaders, with the government responding angrily to a Washington Post article on the struggling Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who has been hit by a string of graft scandals.
Cartoons have also come under fire before. In May, lawmakers reacted in fury over an old cartoon being used in school textbooks lampooning B.R. Ambedkar, author of India's constitution.
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@gp65: What is the use of telling all this to Sir Ding Dong Bunty.
@John B: Agree with your point but would like to compare this instance not to the movie but the Danish cartoons. In both cases something that a billion plus people revere was made fun of through a cartoon. Yet even people who revere the constitution did not call for death to Aseem, rather they are calling to have him freed - because THAT is the spirit of our constitution. Speaking of freedom of speech, there are a lot of other contradictions also.Even though Pakistan has blocked you tube due to this movie issue, earlier on I saw a videoblog on tribune where LeJ supporters were chanting 'Pakistan me rehna hai to Shia kafir kehna hai'. Also in the video the followers were being taught to open FIRs under blasphemy law against Shia prayer leaders - which for all practical purposes is a death sentence. In a country where thee have been 300+ target kiling of Shias just in 2012, this should have been a trigger for action with you-tube since it threatened the life and limb of Pakistan citizens. But the issue did not draw any attention of authorities
@Sir King Kong Bunty: 'No Indian trolls here. So called democarcy'
Please read the Indian comments on the OpEd by Farzana VErsey. She supports the arrest. Every single Indian reader disagreed with her.
Also - yes, this IS democracy. When someone is arrested falsely, Indian civil society springs into action. Also he got bail within 3 days. How long did it take for Rimsha to get bail? Democracy does not mean government is wise and all knowing and never makes mistakes. Democracy means holding the government accountable for its errors.
Since India is a secular republic, the constitution holds the same value for Indians as the Quran holds for the Islamic republic of Pakistan. Yet no mobs showed up threatening to kill Aseem Trivedi. Even people who may have completely disagreed with his cartoons, agreed with his right to publish them.
@Sir King Kong Bunty: Democracy in a true sense. You just imagine if the same person had done the same in Pakistan, what would be the outcome. You will be the first to suggest a burning tyre on him. This is not a banana country like yours.
He should have stayed and refused bail.
If the readers and human rights watch group think that the cartoonist is protected under freedom of expression, then the same readers should also think that the idiotic movie against which extremists are creating violence and death and destruction in Cairo and Egypt is also protected under freedom of expression.
Whereas, if the readers think that the sense and sensibilities of Muslims are insulted by the movie then they should stand by the Govt of India response against the cartoonist since billion Indians can also claim their reverence is insulted by the cartoons.
One cannot have it both ways. Freedom of expression is the hall mark of a mature society.
"Liberty of thought and action is the only condition of life, of growth and well-being. Where it does not exist, the man, the race, the nation must go.' -Vivekananda
There is no 2 opinion that he should be released. He is the victim of Congress politics which is neck deep in corruption charges
No Indian trolls here. So called democarcy