Cartoonist Aseem Trivedi To Walk Out Of Jail Today

The Bombay High Court on September 12, 2012, granted bail to cartoonist Aseem Trivedi — three days after his sedition arrest had set off a national debate on free speech. Trivedi, released from Arthur Road Jail the same day, walked out on a personal bond of Rs 5,000.

Trivedi had been arrested on September 9 over his "Cartoons Against Corruption" satires — including his version of the national emblem with wolves in place of lions, and the slogan "Bhrastameva Jayate" — drawn during Anna Hazare's anti-corruption agitation. Mumbai police charged him with sedition under Section 124A of the Indian Penal Code, alongside National Honour Act and IT Act violations.

The arrest backfired spectacularly. The press, opposition parties, and civil liberties groups condemned the use of a colonial-era sedition law against a cartoonist; the High Court itself rapped the police for acting on "frivolous grounds" and "without application of mind."

Trivedi, for his part, seemed to understand that the controversy had given him a bigger platform than his cartoons ever could. He announced the same month that he would join Bigg Boss Season 6 — the reality show — to take his anti-corruption message "to every home."

A month later, the Maharashtra government dropped the sedition charge entirely, telling the High Court there was "clearly no case" under Section 124A. The cartoonist walked free — and the law that was supposed to silence him ended up looking like the punchline.