Aseem Trivedi, a political cartoonist whose satirical work on corruption and the political establishment had gained widespread visibility through social media during India's anti-corruption movement, was arrested in Mumbai in September 2012 on charges of sedition and obscenity—charges that the Indian legal and media establishment largely condemned as disproportionate to the offense of political cartooning.

Trivedi had displayed cartoons at the Jantar Mantar protests in Delhi associated with Anna Hazare's anti-corruption campaign. Some of the cartoons depicted national symbols—the Parliament building, the national emblem—in satirical contexts that authorities argued constituted an insult to the nation.

His arrest under Section 124A of the Indian Penal Code, the sedition provision, provoked immediate backlash. Section 124A, a colonial-era law drafted to suppress criticism of the British government, had been used only rarely in independent India; its application to political satire was widely seen as an overreach that would, if sustained, effectively criminalize criticism of the government.

Trivedi was released on bail within days, and the case eventually collapsed. But the episode highlighted the persistence of laws that predated India's constitution and that remained available for prosecutorial overuse against critics of the government.

The Press Council of India and multiple journalism organizations condemned the sedition charge. The case became a reference point in subsequent debates about the appropriate scope of sedition law in a democracy, with several legal reformers calling for the provision's repeal or significant narrowing.

Trivedi continued cartooning.