Free cartoonist Aseem, arrest policemen: Justice Katju

Mangalore Today/ CNN-IBN

New Delhi, Sept 10: Press Council of India chairman, Justice Markandey Katju, has come out strongly in favour of Aseem Trivedi, the cartoonist who has been arrested on sedition charge for mocking Parliament and the National Emblem.

 

 

Speaking to IBN18 Editor-in-Chief Rajdeep Sardesai, Justice Katju said that Aseem is not a criminal and has been wrongly confined.

Hitting out at the police for acting against the cartoonist, the PCI chairman said that the policemen who arrested Aseem must be arrested while he must be freed.

Terming the move as a violation of the Freedom of Speech and Expression, Justice Katju attacked the political class saying, "The Netas are becoming Nazis. They must quit if they can’t take criticism."

The PCI chief also took the opportunity to hit out at West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who had recently acted against a professor over a cartoon, saying the Trinamool Congress chief "acted as a tyrant".

 

Cartoonist arrest: Govt against censorship, says Soni as BJP targets UPA


New Delhi: The arrest of Aseem Trivedi on sedition charges for his cartoons on Monday gave BJP fresh ammunition to target the UPA, even as the government said it was against censorship but wanted citizens to respect national symbols.

BJP alleged that while the UPA government was involved in corruption cases like coal mines allocation, it was attacking democratic institutions and free speech as seen in the targeting of the ’Washington Post’ newspaper and the cartoonist.

"If an article is written in Washington Post, then a letter is dashed off to it by this government. If a cartoonist, using his right to freedom of speech, expresses his views, then he becomes a danger to national security," BJP spokesperson Shahnawaz Hussain said.

 

He was referring to the arrest of Trivedi in Mumbai on sedition charges for his cartoons.

Congress too disapproved of the arrest of the cartoonist saying the action was a bit "over-stretched" and "not called for".

At the same time, the AICC advocated "reasonable restrictions" on freedom of speech and called for respecting the national emblems.

"I have no hesitation in saying that the arrest is a bit too far over-stretched...over reaction is certainly not called for...we are not in favour of arrest," Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari said.

He said a society, which fails to laugh at itself, runs the risk of getting trophied.

In reply to posers on the arrest of Trivedi, Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni said though the Constitution ensures freedom of expression, it also lays down that every citizen must respect national symbols.

"UPA government is not for censorship but for self regulation and in the last three years as I&B Minister, we have promoted self regulation at every step," she told reporters in New Delhi.