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Cartoonist Bala G gets bail after his arrest for criticising Tamil Nadu CM and officials

by IBNS 06 Nov 2017, 07:41 am

Chennai, Nov 6 (IBNS): Tamil Nadu cartoonist Bala G, who was arrested over the charges of defaming top government functionaries, including Tamil Nadu chief minister Edappadi K Palaniswami, got bail on Monday, media reports said.

Bala has been granted bail by the Tirunelvelli court.
 
Collector Sandeep Nanduri earlier told The Hindu that he lodged a complaint with the District Crime Branch a week ago in connection with such "awfully bad representation of the Chief Minister and government officials by the cartoonist."

“On his Facebook page, the cartoonist seemed to have boasted of his actions and I also received such cartoon image through WhatsApp about a week ago. Hence, I personally lodged the complaint with the police for action,” the Collector said.

The cartoonist has been charged with publishing defamatory and obscene material under the  penal code and information technology act.

He has been charged with creating cartoons that criticised the Chief Minister, the Tirunelveli Collector and the Tirunelveli City Commissioner of Police and then posting it on social media site Facebook.

The cartoon was reportedly made by Bala in the backdrop of the self-immolation deaths of four in a family at Tirunelveli Collectorate  last month allegedly after being victimised by usurers.