Satish Acharya accuses Mumbai police of forcing him to remove Pawar cartoon

Mangalore, October 8: A Kundapur based cartoonist has claimed that he was forced to remove a cartoon satirising Nationalist Congress Party Chief Sharad Pawar from his blog by the Cyber Cell of Mumbai police.

Satish Acharya's controversial cartoon had first appeared in Mid Day tabloid on September 5, in the wake of asset declaration of Union ministers.

In his typical way, Mr Acharya had satirised the Maharashtra politician's declaration of wealth at just Rs 12 crore, by depicting him as a pole dancer, teasing the audience with a red dress that reveals Rs 12 crore written over his calf.

Pawar, who heads the Nationalist Congress Party, is believed to be far wealthier than his mandatory official declaration suggests. He is also a cricket administrator. Pawar and his family have been linked to major scandals, including those relating to Adarsh Housing Society, Lavasa, and 2G spectrum allocation.

The controversial cartoon

Although, no objections were raised when the cartoon was published in the daily tabloid, Mr Acharya, said that he received a call from a senior police inspector, after he posted the cartoon on his blog.

Acharya said that Inspector Mukund Pawar of Cyber Cell of Mumbai police called from his cell phone on September 21, initially wanted him to visit the crime branch office in Mumbai for “violating cyber law”.

"He said that a person by the name of Abdul Rehman Anjaria, chairman of the advisory council of Delhi's Jama Masjid had sought for removal of the cartoon from his blog”, Acharya said adding that same Anjaria had registered his comment on the blog by asking him to apologise and have the cartoon removed.

“The inspector talked about Section 69 of the IT Act. Since I wasn't aware of the details of the act, I consulted my journalist-friends. They suggested I remove the cartoon as the police could ask me to visit their office in Mumbai every now and then”, he said.

However, he said that he wanted to republish the same cartoon once he got more information about the IT Act. “Once the police had the cartoon taken off, they were satisfied. Meanwhile I shared this bitter experience with my friends on Facebook and Twitter. I was overwhelmed with the response I received there”, he said.

On the other hand, Inspector Pawar has denied that he or his officers called Acharya for removing the 'obscene' cartoon.

The development comes in the sideline of the arrest of Harish Yadav by Madhya Pradesh police for featuring a cartoon lampooning Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, which had recently appeared in a leading Indore based eveninger.