The police is expected to produce cartoonist Aseem Trivedi before a court today, where it will say that it has completed the investigations in the case of sedition filed against him and no longer needs his custody, CNN-IBN reported.
“The police investigation was complete. There was no need to seek police custody. I am looking into the matter. We will produce him in court and inform it of this,” state home minister RR Patil said.
The cartoonist has been in police custody since yesterday. Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons
The police will convey to the court that they no longer need the Kanpur-based cartoonist’s custody, Patil said.
This comes a day after Trivedi was remanded to police custody for a week after being arrested in a case of sedition registered against him in the Bandra Kurla Complex police station. Trivedi had surrendered before the police on 8 September.
Trivedi had been charged with sedition in a case filed against him by a Mumbai-based lawyer for his cartoons about corruption in which he allegedly insulted the national emblem and other national symbols.
The police is expected to produce him before a magistrate’s court later today where it will say that it no longer needs the cartoonist’s custody. The court will be expected to decide if he should be remanded to judicial custody, making him eligible to be obtain bail, CNN-IBN reported.
Anti-corruption group India Against Corruption has also backed Trivedi and has criticised the police for its decision to arrest and seek his custody in the case.
