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A professor of the premiere Jadavpur University in Kolkata was arrested late on Thursday night for alleged circulation of defamatory cartoon of the Chief Minister, Ms Mamata Banerjee. Another person was also arrested in connection with the incident. The professor was later released on bail.
The cartoon, doing the rounds on social networking sites, was drawn in the backdrop of Ms Banerjee nominating Mr Mukul Roy to take over the Rail Ministry from Mr Dinesh Trivedi.
The strip borrowed dialogues from the Satyajit Ray directed Sonar Kella and used the same on photographs of the three personalities.
According to the police, the professor was booked under sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Information Technology Act.
Justifying the arrest, Mr Purnendu Basu, state Labour Minister and a veteran trade union leader, said: “It was a photograph done in bad taste and law should take its own course.”
Ms Banerjee, without referring the incident, in a programme in Bankura accused a section of media for spreading mis-information against her government.
She also said that her government would not tolerate any wrong-doing.
Criticism
The arrest, meanwhile, has evoked widespread criticism of the Ms Banerjee-run State Government.
The Jadavpur University Teachers Association on Friday took out a protest rally condemning the arrest and demanding the withdrawal of all charges against the professor.
Noted author Ms Taslima Nasreen too condemned the incident as a violation of freedom of expression.
“Shame! Shame! A professor is arrested over a cartoon in #Kolkata. It's an extreme violation of freedom of expression!,” she tweeted on her micro-blogging site.
Natural expressions
Noted writer Mr Sunil Gangopadhyay said: “I fail to understand how arrests can be made over cartoons which are natural expressions in a democracy and want to know when politicians will learn to ignore cartoons.”
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