'Don't gag cartoonists, let democracy breathe'

When I saw the TV images of cartoonist Aseem Trivedi being dragged away by Mumbai Police I realised that it couldrsquove been me I was almost there Every time I draw a cartoon criticising a government a politician or any establishment I put myself in that situation Anybody can file a case against my cartoons and drag me to a court in Mumbai or Delhi or Kanpur or anywhere in the country No laughing matteru00a0Cartoonist Aseem Trivedi was remandedu00a0to police custody till September 16 after being produced before a holiday court yesterday They may not succeed in stopping me from drawing another antiestablishment cartoon but theyrsquoll surely succeed in wasting my precious time in mentally harassing me This seems to be the new trick played by the chamchas of the government or politicians to sow the seeds of fear in the minds of cartoonists In the process they shamelessly misuse an IT Act which was enacted to stop misuse of the web Where to draw the line Trivedi in police custody The trick of using fear isnrsquot unique to cops If yoursquore active on social media posting your cartoons you notice that in a way everyone who dislikes a certain cartoon is trying to gag you I get threats and hate mail from Congress loyalists RSS workers BJP fans Pakistan lovers etc who arenrsquot happy with a certain cartoon I donrsquot see much difference between a call from cops threatening a legal case and a mailpost from the fanatic loyalists Itrsquos just that cops try to scare me by using a law and these fanatics try to scare me by threatening to harm me But theyrsquore all trying the spread fear by restricting my freedom of expression Theyrsquore all scared of the freedom that cartoonists use to show the truth I have been following Aseem Trivedirsquos cartoons on his blog even before he was sued But I believe that only when he started identifying himself with Annarsquos India Against Corruption movement did he attract attention from the cops His cartoons started reaching more people on the web He also attracted legal cases I firmly believe that this arrest is politically motivated because of the cartoonistrsquos association with IAC Media needs to investigate the political association and aspirations of the complainant Is the complainant really concerned about the parliament the national emblem or is he just trying to please his bosses My experience with a similar incident exposed the political aspirations of the complainant Exactly a year ago I received a call from a police officer in the Mumbai Crime Branch He asked me to come to the Crime Branch office When I said Irsquom not based in Mumbai anymore he said he was aware of that but wanted me in the Crime Branch office with regard to a certain cartoon on Sharad Pawar First I was amused but soon I realised he was dead serious I was told that the Crime Branch had received a complaint The cartoon was about Sharad Pawar declaring an asset worth Rs 12 crore I had shown him as a poledancer revealing just his calf with Rs 12 crore written on it This cartoon didnrsquot invite any objection when it was published in MiD DAY as well as in its sister publications But after it appeared on my blog they invoked IT laws to harass me The cop asked me to remove the cartoon from my blog He said the cartoon was obscene since I had showed such a big leader in an obscene dress I knew that the cartoon wasnrsquot wrong so I decided to use the power of social media to reach more people and spread the cartoon I shared my experience on Facebook and Twitter and later on my blog I was really surprised to find so much support from netizens who retweeted and shared the cartoon and urged others to do the same Media picked up the story and many journalists took the coprsquos number to talk to him I was shocked when the cop denied that he had ever called me since the calls from his personal number was registered on my phone But I succeeded in defeating their motive The complainant wanted to stop me because he feared that the cartoon could reach more people through a blog I used the same power the power of the web to take the cartoon to more people A cartoon which couldrsquove possibly been seen by thousands of people reached lakhs because of the power of the web Later I came to know that the complainant was an NCP party member When a cop receives a complaint regarding a cartoon and initiates action he forgets a few things He forgets that a cartoonist is also a journalist who expresses his opinion through a cartoon that he works within a selfdisciplined boundary that there are journalists including the editor who go through the same cartoon before publishing it Do you think a cop can undermine the professional expertise and professional rights of all these people to decide the fate of a cartoon How can a police officer decide which cartoon is offensive unless he is specially trained to monitor creative work While wersquore enacting new laws and amending existing ones to gag the creative freedom the government isnrsquot bothered to draft any law to protect artists The power of the web can dangerous agreed But please donrsquot use that alibi to restrict our freedom of expression Please donrsquot misuse IT laws to settle political scores Trivedirsquos cartoons are strong and sometimes blunt As an editorial cartoonist I may not draw the cartoons that hersquos made about the Parliament and tricolour but thatrsquos my selfimposed boundary But you cannot arrest a cartoonist and harass him just because a complainant thought a cartoon was offensive and a cop agreed Any democracy is as strong as the freedom its creative people enjoy Let democracy breathe donrsquot gag cartoonsu00a0