Throwing a young cartoonist behind bars on ‘sedition’ charges is of a piece with chasing away young girls from night-time revelries
Throwing a young cartoonist behind bars on ‘sedition’ charges is of a piece with chasing away young girls from night-time revelries
It would have been a perfectly satisfactory answer if information and broadcasting minister Ambika Soni had stuck to the basics when asked by the media about the recent arrest of Kanpur cartoonist Aseem Trivedi by the Mumbai police. Instead of waxing eloquent about the law showing disrespect to the national flag, she could have confined herself to the observation that her government didn’t believe in censorship.
If pressed further, she could have asked journalists to check with the Mumbai police why it displayed such a crusading spirit in dealing with the young man from Kanpur who, by questioning corruption, has only shown himself to be a public-spirited citizen (even if his drawings are not the embodiment of good taste).
Ms Soni’s unfortunate, full-blast comment came on the heels of her threatening attitude towards a story in the Washington Post that portrayed Prime Minister Manmohan Singh negatively. It is this which has quite rightly raised the question that the government is showing signs of impatience with the mildest criticism. The Congress tried to regain its composure by saying later that the arrest was “overstretched”. But that was only after the story was flashed worldwide.
The police in all states is notorious for sending away complainants without lodging FIRs even in serious cases. Then what got into the Mumbai police to indulge a hypersensitive local law student who says he couldn’t stomach ridicule to the national flag and the Constitution contained in Mr Trivedi’s cartoons? Of late, the Mumbai police hasn’t coped too well with terror modules and other serious crimes, but is in the habit of zeroing in on easy prey, like people having fun at all-night parties. Such lapsing into moral policing cannot refurbish its reputation. Throwing a young cartoonist behind bars on “sedition” charges is of a piece with chasing away young girls from night-time revelries. But if the police has taken leave of common sense, what about the lower judiciary?
If the Mumbai holiday court before which Mr Trivedi was produced had dismissed the case as preposterous and given the police a dressing-down, the presiding judicial official would have gained in stature. But he can still make amends. And the law student whose complaint started it all should be warned not to press foolish charges in future. If he is a budding politician, let him learn a lesson or two.
But the most important lesson should be learnt by the political class. Quick steps must be taken to strike the law on “sedition” — a 19th century Raj tool to tackle nationalist leaders — off the statute books.
