The arrest of a renowned cartoonist in India on charges of sedition has triggered a wave of criticism across the country.
Aseem Trivedi - see his Wikipedia profile - was arrested in Mumbai at the weekend for cartoons that are said to mock the Indian constitution. He was also charged with insulting the national flag.
One of his Cartoons Against Corruption drawings depicted the national emblem as comprising wolves in place of lions.
Trivedi, a long-time campaigner against corruption, was offered bail but refused to apply for it, thus embarrassing the police and the government.
A friend, Alok Dixit, explained that Trivedi had refused to appoint a lawyer, saying: "He wants to let the court decide. He maintains he is not wrong. That is why he does not see a need to defend himself."
Many of India's journalists have condemned the arrest. "The cartoonist did nothing illegal and, in fact, arresting him was an illegal act," said India's press council chairman Markandey Katju.
Katju, a former supreme court judge, asked how drawing a cartoon could be considered a crime and said politicians should learn to accept criticism. He said:
"Either the allegation is true, in which case you deserve it; or it is false, in which case, you ignore it. This kind of behaviour is not acceptable in a democracy."
Rajdeep Sardesai, the editor of the CNN-IBN news channel, said he found it "amusing, but also very dangerous that you can get away with hate speech in this country, but parody and political satire leads to immediate arrest".
Late last year, a website carrying Trivedi's anti-corruption cartoons was banned by the police in Mumbai.
In April, Indian police arrested a professor in Calcutta for cartoons posted on the net that ridiculed West Bengal's chief minister. He was later released.
Sources: Times of India/BBC/NDTV/Wikipedia
