Anant Rangaswami
The law might be an ass, but, unfortunately, it is the law we live with, till such time as the law is amended. That’s why, despite the fact that I find the arrest distasteful and the length of custody ridiculous, I find myself forced to agree that the act of arrest is one that is, perhaps, the right thing to do. It is no different than a desperate pedestrian deciding to urinate against the wall, and, while doing so, being arrested. One may sympathise with the individual, but the fact is, a law has been broken. It can be argued that hundreds of laws are broken every day by millions, and many of these ‘crimes’ go unpunished, but the debate, at this moment, is on one of those cases where the law-keepers seek to enforce the law in the context of a complaint that has been made. On the surface of it, the law, however asinine it is, says that a law has been broken. The debate should move to a change in the laws of the land. The last year has exposed many bad laws. The fight should focus on changing these laws – but that is in the future. For the present, a law has been broken and an individual has been arrested, in keeping with the law.read less read more
Arun George
While the police is required to investigate every crime that is registered, it has to take a judgment on how much action should be taken in each case. Whether there was political pressure to arrest Trivedi is not very clear yet, but if there wasn’t any, the Mumbai police has erred greatly by arresting the cartoonist and seeking his custody for seven days. There is no question of interrogation, since they have the cartoons available on multiple medium. To charge him with sedition is even worse, unless there is adequate proof that he or others acted against the nation using the cartoons. This is perhaps the best indicative case of our lawmakers not understanding how to use the laws they have. Seven days police custody, without any chance of getting bail, for a man whose worst crime is a cartoon is a grave miscarriage of justice. read less read more
