MUMBAI: A citizen has a right to say or write anything critical about the Government, or its measures, as long it does not incite violence or intended to disrupt public peace and create disorder, said the Bombay high court while holding that cartoons by Aseem Trivedi drawn in 2011 lacked wit but were not seditious as originally charged by the police. The HC also directed the police to "scrupulously implement'' new guidelines issued by the Maharashtra government that place checks on filing of frivolous sedition cases.

"Cartoons or caricatures are visual representations, words or signs which are supposed to have an element of wit, humour or sarcasm. Having seen the seven cartoons in question, it is difficult to find any element of wit or humour or sarcasm. The cartoons displayed at a meeting held on November 27, 2011 in Mumbai, as a part of movement launched by Anna Hazare against corruption in India, were full of anger and disgust against corruption prevailing in the political system and had no element of wit or humour or sarcasm,'' said the HC on Tuesday, holding that sedition charge was not attracted against Trivedi. "But for that reason, the freedom of speech and expression available to Trivedi to express his indignation against corruption in the political system in strong terms or visual representations could not have been encroached upon when there is no allegation of incitement to violence or the tendency or the intention to create public disorder,'' the HC bench of Chief Justice Mohit Shah and Justice Nitin Jamdar said.