New Delhi: Even as the Maharashtra government and police are facing severe criticism for the arrest of cartoonist Aseem Trivedi for mocking Parliament and National Emblem, the FIR against him was registered on the basis of a complaint by an individual Amit Katarnayea, who is incidentally a member of the Republican Party of India.
Aseem Trivedi was sent to judicial custody till September 24 by Mumbai's Bandra court on Monday after Maharashtra Police decided to give up his custody. The 25-year-old Kanpur-based Aseem was arrested in Mumbai on Saturday under Indian Penal Code Section 124 (sedition), Section 66 A of Information Technology Act and Section 2 of Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act following a complaint by Amit Katarnayea.
Katarnayea filed a complaint against Aseem alleging that the cartoonist had put up banners mocking the Constitution during Anna Hazare's rally at the Bandra Kurla Complex in 2011. He also alleged that Aseem had put the obscene content on his website showing Parliament and the National Emblem in poor light.
Charged with sedition, Aseem was sent to jail for two weeks after he declined to apply for bail and refused to hire the services of a lawyer to defend himself. He declared that he would not apply for bail until the sedition charge, for which maximum punishment is life imprisonment, was dropped.
In the court the police said that their investigations were over and Aseem's custody was not needed.
Under Section 66 A (Punishment for sending offensive messages through communication service, etc) and Section 2 of Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act (Whoever in any public place or in any other place within public view burns, mutilates, defaces, defiles, disfigures, destroys, tramples upon or otherwise shows disrespect to or brings into contempt (whether by words, either spoken or written, or by acts) the Indian National Flag or the Constitution of India or any part thereof) Aseem faces a prison term of three years and/ or can be fined.
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