In a bizarre incident, the might and will of the world’s largest democracy have been threatened by a few pencil sketches. The matter was brought to light recently by a Mumbai advocate who is coincidentally more active in the political corridors than he should be in courts. The lawyer accused the cartoonist in a petition to the court of mocking the constitution which, according to the law of the land, amounts to sedition.

The court heard the plea and asked for the cartoonist to be arrested. The government acted with war-time urgency and complied with the court orders. The swift turn of events deserves certain credit given the fact that on several matters of national importance the government has not moved an inch in years despite repeated howlings from the highest court of the country.

However, that did not abate the outrage in the country over the arrest. A section, notorious for its hostility to the unquestionably benign establishment, protested against the arrest arguing that secessionists and extremists who ran parallel governments for years and did not allow the national flag to be unfurled have been cajoled into initiating dialogue in the past. While their argument stood, there were reports also that the arrested cartoonist was close to the section and his sketches adorned the sides of public protest last year — which had the political leadership in a huddle inside parliament discussing the essentiality of the building for the future of the country’s democracy.   

The political leadership has expressed shock at the arrest and pledged all support to the artist. Home minister of the state where the cartoonist is imprisoned said there were no grounds for the police to take him into custody. The state’s police department works under his ministry. A union minister promptly said that the government will help the cartoonist if there is a need. The help was delivered equally promptly when the artist was thrashed by cops outside the court when he tried to reply to questions from the media.

The artist has been charged with a colonial-era offence which stands abolished in the parent country and which was fiercely debated in an assembly which drafted the constitution of the country — where jurists feared it would be misused by governments in future. 

Freedom of speech and expression is enshrined in the country’s constitution as a fundamental right while the hounds of double standards are unleashed at the end of each uproarious day.

Nox atra cava circumvolat umbra.

(Black night surrounded them with its hollow shadows.)

– Publius Vergilius Maro, Aeneid.