A Mumbai court, which is trying the sedition case against cartoonist Aseem Trivedi, sent him to judicial custody till Sept 24. Meanwhile, the political cartoonist also refused to move a bail petition demanding to drop the charges against him.
A Mumbai bench ruled to place Trivedi into the judicial custody after the police surrendered his custody, saying the officials were done with questioning him.
Earlier, Trivedi was sent to police custody till Sep 11 following his arrest on Sunday. He was arrested based on private complaints for which a court issued an arrest warrant in his name.
Trivedi contended that he didn't do anything against the law and he is proud about what he has done. He refused to seek a lawyer's help in the case.
Commenting on Trivedi's arrest Supreme Court lawyer and anti-graft activist Prashant Bhushan alleged that the sedition law is constantly being misused by the government.
"The sedition charge is constantly being misused by the government. It should only be used only if someone incites violence. By no stretch of imagination was Aseem promoting violence. I know Aseem personally. He is not a traitor. Traitors are those who clash in Parliament or those who sell off coal blocks at a pittance," NDTV quoted Bhushan as saying.
Trivedi is one of the members of the India Against corruption (IAC) organization. He had exhibited his cartoons in the anti-corruption protest stage during the Anna Hazare movement. His works were supposedly intended to mock at the sorry state of the country's functioning system, which is paralysed by corruption.
One of Trivedi's cartoons posted on www.cartoonsagainstcorruption.blogspot.in, illustrated the Parliament as a gigantic toilet. In another cartoon he had replaced the lions with four wolfs oozing blood from their mouths. Another one of his works supposedly depicted the sorry state of the country and is titled 'Gang Rape of Mother India.'
