The cartoon showed the Chief Minister, the Collector and the SP attempting to cover their private parts with wads of currency notes in front of the charred body of an infant lying on the ground. “This highly demeaning cartoon shows the government officers in poor light and also casts aspersions about their integrity. The cartoon also shows/depicts the Honourable Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu in a highly derogatory and belittling way,” the complaint said.
Mr. Nanduri alleged that the cartoon was meant to create among the public, hatred towards the officers and the Chief Minister and was aimed at preventing the two officers from discharging their duties by levelling false accusations. The Collector told The Hindu that he had lodged the complaint, which he also received on WhastApp, as the cartoonist “seemed to have boasted of his actions” on Facebook.
Superintendent of Police P. Arun Sakthi Kumar said based on the Collector’s complaint, a case under Sections 501 of the IPC (Printing or engraving matter known to be defamatory) and Section 67 of IT Act (Punishment for publishing or transmitting obscene material in electronic form) was registered on Wednesday last.
Acting on the complaint, a police team from Tirunelveli picked up Mr. Bala from his residence in suburban Chennai and took him to Tirunelveli for remand.
Meanwhile, CPI (M) leader and Rajya Sabha MP T.K. Rangarajan and PMK MP Anbumani Ramadoss condemned Mr. Bala’s arrest and demanded his release.
In recent months, Tamil Nadu has witnessed the arrest of several activists beginning with May 17 Movement’s Thirumurugan Gandhi, who was detained under the Goondas Act. Subsequently, Valarmathi, an activist and a post-graduate journalism student who has been campaigning against the hydro-carbon and methane project, was arrested in July. She was later detained under the Goondas Act. However, the Madras High Court quashed her detention under the Goondas Act subsequently.
Similarly, activist T. Jayaraman, who has been protesting against the hydrocarbon project at Kathiramangalam, was arrested. The chief coordinator of the anti-methane project movement was in October booked for sedition by Mayiladuthurai Police.
Last week, activist Nakkeeran Pughazhendi of Arappor Iyakkam, an anti-corruption forum, was arrested by the police on charges of unlawful assembly and rioting after he objected to illegal encroachment at Ramapuram in Chennai by local politicians. However, he was released after he was granted a bail. Another activist Jayaram Venkatesan of Arappor Iyakkam was also allegedly threatened by the police.
