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Indian police have detained and questioned a cartoonist on charges of sedition over a series of cartoons which lampooned the government's corruption record, including one that depicted parliament as a giant toilet bowl.
The arrest of Aseem Trivedi, a freelance artist, has triggered widespread condemnation from the media and anti-graft activists, who said the move was evidence of a lack of respect for the freedom of expression.
"If telling the truth makes me a traitor, then I am one," Trivedi said outside the court where he was remanded in police custody late on Sunday after a private complaint from a Mumbai-based lawyer.
"If I am booked under sedition for doing service to the nation, then I will continue to do so," he added.
A local court in Mumbai has ordered him to be held in police custody until September 16 for other offences under the country's sedition and information technology laws.
Markandey Katju, chairman of the Press Council of India and former Supreme Court judge, defended Trivedi, who was also accused of displaying the contentious cartoons at an anti-corruption rally last year.
Katju said in a statement: "My opinion is that the cartoonist did nothing illegal. In a democracy, many things are said, some truthful and others false."
The Hindu newspaper reported that Trivedi's cartoons included an image of the sole surviving gunman from the 2008 Mumbai attacks urinating on the Indian constitution. One cartoon showed parliament as a giant toilet bowl while another depicting the national emblem of India replaced the lions with wolves with blood dripping from their mouths.
The case comes shortly after another censorship row in which the government was criticised for blocking Internet content in an attempt to calm ethnic tensions in Bangalore and other cities.
Some Twitter accounts that ridiculed Prime Minister Manmohan Singh were also blocked.
A similar row blew up last year when Communications Minister Kapil Sibal held meetings with Facebook, Google and other IT giants over obscene images that risked offending Muslims or defamed politicians.


Indian artist arrested over anti-government cartoons

His arrest over anti-government images sparks widespread outrage

Indian artist arrested over anti-government cartoons

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}His arrest over anti-government images sparks widespread outrage

His arrest over anti-government images sparks widespread outrage