Professor Ambikesh Mahapatra, one of the two persons whom the West Bengal Human Rights Commission (WBHRC) has recommended for a compensation of Rs. 50,000 in connection with their arrests for e-mailing graphics directed at Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and some of her party colleagues in April said here on Tuesday that he would continue to circulate cartoons that interest him.
“Cartoons cannot be and should not be banned by any law. Although I am not a cartoonist I am intrigued by cartoons and in future will continue to circulate e-mails containing cartoons that interest me”, Prof Mahapatra told The Hindu here on Tuesday. He also said that he was being invited by organisations that promote cartoons following his arrest. “Cartoons are a medium to express humour,” Professor Mahapatra added.
Ms. Banerjee had taken strong exception to the graphics depicting her that Professor Mahapatra had circulated through e-mail and described it as “character assassination”.
The WBHRC in its recommendations in regard to the arrest of Professor Mahapatra and his neighbour Subrata Sengupta, had on Monday observed that “even during Emergency (1975-77) when pre-censorship of the Press was imposed, pre-censorship of cartoons was lifted after the first three months”.
Keywords: Ambikesh Mahapatra arrest, Jadavpur University, Mamata Banerjee cartoon, Mamata cartoon row
The WBHRC needs to be congratulated for its fearless verdict of recomending compensation to the two persons including Prof.Mahapatra.The CM who seems to be bereft of any sense of humor and who was too quick to take offense and unleash the Police against the hapless professor and another person deserves to be condemned for her churlishness.Petulance is unbecoming of a lady holding the high office of the CM.If she could not tolerate the humor,she could very well have sought recourse to the Court Of Law
instead of acting in such a high-handed fashion.She should have been a gun toting sheriff of a town in the Wild West where only gun-law prevailed.But even in the West of those days law officers and town marshals and mayors and other authorities were answerable to the federal law.They were not a Law Unto Themselves as some of our elected representatives seem to think of themselves.
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