NEW DELHI, Nov. 7 (Xinhua) -- A cartoonist had been arrested in southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu for criticising local government chief minister and some officials in his caricature for being unable to prevent a child from committing suicide, according to local media on Tuesday.
The cartoonist in a bid to highlight illegal money lending in district Tirunelveli, about 630 km south of Chennai, the capital city of Tamil Nadu, drew a cartoon featuring a child burning on ground while chief minister of Tamil Nadu E Palaniswami, the Tirunelveli police commissioner and the collector gather around doing nothing to save the child and instead cover their modesty with bundles of cash.
The political cartoonist G Bala posted the cartoon on his social media pages last month, which went viral and has been shared 40,000 times since then.
The cartoonist was arrested on Sunday after Tirunelveli collector took notice of the cartoon and reported the matter to state's top officials and police.
"G Bala of Chennai has drawn distasteful cartoons about Tirunelveli District top officials and posted them on social media and in this regard the district collector had given a complaint," a statement issued by police said.
According to police, Bala was booked under Section 67 of the Information Technology Act (punishment for publishing or transmitting obscene material in electronic form) and Section 501 of the Indian Penal Code (printing or engraving matter known to be defamatory).
The charges, if proved in court, can evoke a maximum sentence of five years in jail.
On Oct 23, a labourer had set himself and his family ablaze at the Tirunelveli Collectorate premises after being constantly harassed by a money lender despite repaying the loan.
Reports said he had submitted six petitions to the collectorate, but the authorities and the police failed to take action.
