Arrested cartoonist gets bail

Chennai, Nov 6 : Cartoonist G. Bala, arrested for a cartoon that allegedly depicted officials and politicians in poor light, was granted bail by a court in Tirunelveli district in Tamil Nadu on Monday.

Bala was arrested at his residence here on Sunday on a complaint lodged by Tirunelveli District Collector Sandeep Nanduri for lampooning him, Chief Minister K. Palaniswamy and a police official following the self immolation of four persons of a family who were unable to pay back a loan they had borrowed from a loan shark.

The cartoonist was arrested under the Information Technology Act and Indian Penal Code for uploading the cartoon on his Facebook page.

In his cartoon, Bala had depicted the image of a burning child on the ground with three caricatures in their loin cloth, named as Tirunelveli District Collector, Chief Minister and Tamil Nadu Police watching it.

Recently, Isaki Muthu along with his wife and two children set themselves ablaze in Tirunelveli, around 650 km from here, unable to bear the harassment by the moneylender.

Muthu had earlier petitioned the police and District Collector to save his family from the moneylender.

According to police, Muthu borrowed around Rs 1.40 lakh from a loan shark at high interest rate. Despite paying back Rs 2 lakh, the moneylender was pressing for more money and threatened Muthu too.