I’m playing a bit of catchup on the news surrounding Indian cartoonist Aseem Trivedi who was arrested for sedition for cartoons depicting the Parliament building as a toilet and another featured Mother India about to be gang raped by a character labeled “corruption.”
- Aseem was released from jail on Sunday to a hero’s welcome after he applied for bail after the government indicated it would most likely drop the charges (Times of India)
- While the government indicates it will drop the sedition charge, Congress and the National Congress Party are not so gracious. They indicate they will fight it. (Hindustan Times)
- Some government ministers have agreed the sedition law needs to be amended to differentiate between anti- state and anti- government protests. (FirstPost India)
this isn’t surprising, as the government needs to save face once this case got so much coverage. But without a codified freedom of speech, there will still be splitting of hairs over what Indians are officially allowed to be offended by.