CHENNAI: Cartoonist Bala G, whose arrest for a caricature lampooning Tamil Nadu Chief Minister E Palaniswami sparked massive outrage, today said he had no regrets. "I did not commit a murder," the 36-year-old freelance cartoonist said, minutes after a court ordered his release on bail. He has been charged with defamation and obscenity.
"I will continue to highlight inefficiency of the government through my cartoon. I will not stop," said Bala G, who had drawn the cartoon blaming the AIADMK government for the death of four members of a family last month.
But opposition political parties in the state and elsewhere called his detention an attack on free speech, aimed at sending a message to the government's other critics as well.
"The three persons are depicted as naked and carrying currency notes which are used to cover their private parts," the police complaint said, calling the cartoon "derogatory, demeaning and malicious".
Isaki Muthu had borrowed money from a private money lender and had been unable to get out of debt due to the high interest rates. Tamil Nadu has a 2003 law against loan sharks but the district officials and police refused to invoke it to save him.
Tamil Nadu's lead opposition party DMK has called the cartoonist's arrest "proof that the government was in the wrong" and unable to respond to Bala's criticism. "What has happened is a great shame", said DMK leader TKS Elangovan.
"I will continue to highlight inefficiency of the government through my cartoon. I will not stop," said Bala G, who had drawn the cartoon blaming the AIADMK government for the death of four members of a family last month.
But opposition political parties in the state and elsewhere called his detention an attack on free speech, aimed at sending a message to the government's other critics as well.
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"The three persons are depicted as naked and carrying currency notes which are used to cover their private parts," the police complaint said, calling the cartoon "derogatory, demeaning and malicious".
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Isaki Muthu had borrowed money from a private money lender and had been unable to get out of debt due to the high interest rates. Tamil Nadu has a 2003 law against loan sharks but the district officials and police refused to invoke it to save him.
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Tamil Nadu's lead opposition party DMK has called the cartoonist's arrest "proof that the government was in the wrong" and unable to respond to Bala's criticism. "What has happened is a great shame", said DMK leader TKS Elangovan.
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