Aseem Trivedi (born 17 February 1987) is an Indian

political cartoon A political cartoon, a form of editorial cartoon, is a cartoon graphic with caricatures of public figures, expressing the artist's opinion. An artist who writes and draws such images is known as an editorial cartoonist. They typically combine a ...

ist and activist, known for his anti corruption campaign

Cartoons Against Corruption Cartoons Against Corruption is a cartoon-based campaign mounted by the political cartoonist Aseem Trivedi to support the anti-corruption movement in India, which is best known for its sharp, hard-hitting anti-corruption cartoons. Crime Branch, Mum ...

. He is a founder member of

Save Your Voice Save Your Voice is a movement against Internet censorship in India, internet censorship in India. It was founded by cartoonist Aseem Trivedi, journalist Alok Dixit, socialist Arpit Gupta and Chirag Joshi in January 2012. The movement was initiall ...

, a movement against internet censorship in India. He is the recipient of "Courage in Editorial Cartooning Award 2012" of US based Cartoonists Rights Network International.

Early life

Aseem Trivedi was born on 17 February 1987 in

Shuklaganj Shuklaganj (officially Gangaghat) is situated in Unnao district, but it is also considered as a suburb of Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, located on the banks of holy river Ganges about 5 km from Kanpur on the SH 58 to Unnao.The population was ...

Unnao district Unnao district is a district of Uttar Pradesh state in northern India. The city of Unnao is the district headquarters. The district is part of Lucknow Division. As of the 2011 census, Unnao district has a population of 3,108,367, making it ...

Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh (; , 'Northern Province') is a state in northern India. With over 200 million inhabitants, it is the most populated state in India as well as the most populous country subdivision in the world. It was established in 1950 ...

State in

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. He studied in Saraswati Vidya Mandir until 12th standard. He started his career as a freelance cartoonist and worked for several

Hindi Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been de ...

language newspapers and magazines.

Cartoons against corruption

In 2011, a nationwide anti corruption movement India Against Corruption gathered pace in India. Aseem Trivedi started a cartoon based campaign,

to support the movement. He launched a website www.cartoonsagainstcorruption.com and displayed his cartoons in the

MMRDA Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) is a body of the Government of Maharashtra that is responsible for preparation oRegional Plan for MMRand the infrastructure development of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region. The MMRDA was se ...

ground,

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...

during the hunger strike of

Anna Hazare Kisan Baburao "Anna" Hazare (; born 15 June 1937) is an Indian social activist who led movements to promote rural development, increase government transparency, and investigate and punish corruption in public life. In addition to organising an ...

Ban on the website

The website was banned by Mumbai Crime Branch for displaying "defamatory and derogatory cartoons" in Dec, 2011. Following his website's ban, he uploaded his cartoons to a new blog.

Fight against internet censorship

After the ban on his website, Aseem Trivedi along with his friend Alok Dixit started

, a campaign for internet freedom. Through the creative protests in several cities, Save Your Voice, initiated a debate over internet freedom in India. The campaign was targeted at the draconian rules framed under the Information Technology Act, 2000.

Hunger Strike

Aseem Trivedi went on an indefinite hunger strike for internet freedom at Jantar Mantar, New Delhi. The motive of the hunger strike was to request political parties to support the annulment motion against the Intermediary Guideline Rules of the Information Technology Act 2011 of India.

Charges and allegations

One of Trivedi's cartoons showed the four lions that form Ashoka Chakra, India's national symbol, replaced by four wolves and the national slogan "truth shall prevail" replaced by "corruption shall prevail." Another cartoon showed Parliament as the "national toilet". He sketched a woman as "Mother India" being assaulted by a politician and a bureaucrat. A caption above this cartoon reads "gang rape of Mother India". He faced serious allegations of insulting national emblem, Parliament, flag and constitution through his cartoons. He was charged with sedition IPC 124A, Section 66A of IT act and National Emblem Act 1971 . The case against him was filed in a Mumbai court by a lawyer, who said the pictures mocked national symbols. Trivedi was also charged with posting seditious and obscene content on his website.

Jail

He was arrested in Mumbai on 9 September 2012 on charges of sedition, related to the content of his work. He was granted bail with a personal bond of Rs. 5000 on the basis of an independent petition by a lawyer, who also asked the court to remove the accusations of sedition. Sedition charges were dropped by the government in October 2012. Section 66A of IT Act was scrapped by Supreme Court of India in March 2015.

Awards

He has been announced as the 2012 recipient of the "Courage in Editorial Cartooning Award" of

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

based Cartoonists Rights Network International. He is sharing the award with Syrian cartoonist

Ali Ferzat Ali Farzat or Ali Ferzat ( ar, علي فرزات; born 22 June 1951) is a Syrian political cartoonist. He has published more than 15,000 caricatures in Syrian, Arab and international newspapers. He serves as the head of the Arab Cartoonists Asso ...

. Indian Affairs founded b
Satya Brahma
in its 6th Annual India Leadership Conclave 2015 awarded Trivedi as "Cartoonist of the year 2015". He was also nominated for the Freedom of Expression Awards 2013 in Arts category by UK based group

Index on Censorship Index on Censorship is an organization campaigning for freedom of expression, which produces a quarterly magazine of the same name from London. It is directed by the non-profit-making Writers and Scholars International, Ltd (WSI) in association w ...

Reality television

;As contestant

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Trivedi, Aseem Living people Indian cartoonists 1987 births Indian anti-corruption activists People from Kanpur Activists from Uttar Pradesh Writers from Uttarakhand 21st-century Indian non-fiction writers Bigg Boss (Hindi TV series) contestants