Aseem Trivedi

Aseem Trivedi (born 17 February 1987 in Shuklaganj ) is an Indian political cartoonist and activist.

Background

Aseem Trivedi was born in Shuklaganj, in the district of Unnao at Kanpur in India. He started working as a freelance cartoonist and worked for several newspapers and magazines that appeared in Hindi. In 2011, he joined the movement Cartoons Against Corruption, to assist them with his artistic work. He showed his Anit -corruption cartoons on his website, which was then locked. His cartoons were considered as an insult to Parliament, setting off fierce debates there. Reporters Without Borders wrote that the largest democracy would be undermined by the actions of this kind. After the blocking of his website Trivedi and others founded the movement activists Save Your Voice, which was great public interest in a short time. Due to the protests in various cities they reached a nationwide debate on the freedom of the Internet. The highlight of resistance, in which many writers, artists and musicians involved, was the arrest of academics Ambikesh Mahapatra, who published caricatures of a Bengal Minister in Internet. Then Aseem Trivedi joined with journalist Alok Dixit in a seven-day hunger strike.

On September 9, 2012 Asem Trivedi was arrested in Mumbai for incitement and public agitation. He renounced release on bail, as long as the charges against him were not dropped. Trivedi was announced as the winner for the Courage in Editorial Cartooning Award of the State of Virginia. With the price his exceptional courage and efforts should be acknowledged to have made the public aware of the corruption in the political system of India and censorship.