Complaint against student for sharing Mamata cartoon

Nine months after Professor Ambikesh Mahapatra was arrested here for forwarding an e-mail containing cartoons lampooning West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, a complaint was lodged against a second-year college student for sharing a graphic directed at her on Facebook, the police said on Friday.

The complaint was registered at the Bidhannagar North Police Station on Thursday against Ram Nayan Chowdhury, a student of Bidhannagar Government College here.

“The police station has received a complaint and we are looking into it,” said Krishnakali Lahiri, ADP, Bidhannagar Police Commissionerate.

Mr. Chowdhury said the complaint against him was lodged by Subhakhon Dutta, an activist of the student wing of the ruling Trinamool Congress.

Mr. Chowdhury shared a caricature of Ms. Banerjee on Facebook and commented : “Jawab mangoge to maobabdi kahenge … Shilpa mangoge to shila dikhaenge [If you ask for answers you will branded as a Maoist … and if you want industries you will be shown only plaques].”

Mr. Chowdhury told

The Hindu he was threatened by activists of the Trinamool Congress’s student wing.

“I am not at fault. There is nothing obscene in the cartoon. There are dozens of people who have shared the cartoon, but I am being targeted only because I am a member of the Students’ Federation of India,” he said, adding that though he had shared the cartoon on January 7, the complaint was registered ten days later.