Trivedi walks free, says he did no wrong

Amid chants of Bharat Mata Ki Jai and waving of the tricolour, Kanpur-based cartoonist Aseem Trivedi walked out of Arthur Road jail on Wednesday, a day after Bombay HC ordered his release on bail.

Amid chants of Bharat Mata Ki Jai and waving of the tricolour, Kanpur-based cartoonist Aseem Trivedi walked out of Arthur Road jail on Wednesday, a day after Bombay HC ordered his release on bail.

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Trivedi was showered with petals as he led a procession of about 50 India Against Corruption volunteers to pay respects to Babasaheb Ambedkar at a Samaj Vikas Kendra, 50 metres from the jail.

As his supporters continued to sloganeer for him, traffic near the jail came to a standstill as 30 policemen handled the crowd as mediapersons and supporters mobbed Trivedi.

"The battle to repeal the law of sedition was initiated by Mahatma Gandhi. I am only taking his fight forward," he said.

Trivedi said art is only a mirror that reflects the truth and all that he has done through his art and cartoons is to do that.

Confronted on the extreme depiction of his ideology in his cartoons, he said, "I don't think I've done anything wrong. Bhagat Singh had said if you want the deaf to hear you, you need to shout out loud. That is why he threw the bomb in the Assembly - to draw attention of the otherwise ignorant British rulers. I did the same."