TNI Bureau: Political Cartoonist and anti-graft activist Aseem Trivedi, who hit the headlines following his arrest on September 9, now walked out of Arthur Road Jail following his bail was granted by the Bombay High Court. The entire nation showed outrage after he was booked on the charge of sedition for his cartoons that allegedly insult the Parliament, Constitution and politicians.
He was also accused of posting inflammatory contents on his website. He was arrested on the basis of a complaint lodged by a Mumbai-based advocate and Congress leader. Trivedi is a founder member of ‘Save Your Voice’, a movement against internet censorship in India. He was born in the Unnao District of Uttar Pradesh. His father is Ashok Trivedi. His Grandfather Reva Shankar Trivedi was a freedom fighter who went to jail during the Independence struggle.
Trivedi started his career as a freelance cartoonist and worked for several newspapers and magazines in U.P. and moved to Delhi at the age of 22 in 2010. He became closely involved with the Anna Hazare-led campaign against corruption and displayed several of his cartoons during the protests.
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Aseem joined the IAC campaign and started a cartoon based campaign by his own through ‘Cartoon Against Corruption’, a campaign utilizing his aptitude as a cartoonist. Accordingly he launched a website www.cartoonsagainstcorruption.com where his sharp anti corruption cartoons targeting the corrupt system and the politicos was targeted. He also displayed his provoking cartoons in the MMRDA ground, Mumbai during the hunger strike of Anna Hazare.
But the website was banned on December 27, 2011 after a complaint to the Mumbai Crime Branch. But Aseem took a smart decision and abruptly created a blog to upload all his cartoons.
The ban led to the eruption of a hot debate over freedom of expression in India and another campaign through for internet censorship named ‘Save Your Voice’ that went viral online.
Aseem has been announced as the 2012 recipient of the “Courage in Editorial Cartooning Award” of Virginia based Cartoonists Rights Network International.