Cartoonist Aseem Trivedi granted bail by Bombay High Court

Mumbai:  Cartoonist Aseem Trivedi on Tuesday granted bail by the Bombay High Court. Trivedi was reportedly against coming out of jail to protest government’s action against his cartoons.

Trivedi will come out of jail on Wednesday at around 3 pm, India Against Corruption (IAC) member Mayank Gandhi told reporters outside the prison after meeting Trivedi.

However, since State Home Minister R R Patil has promised to get the sedition charge dropped and to show respect to the court, Trivedi has decided to come out of jail, Gandhi said.

Patil had earlier told reporters that he would seek the opinion of the Law department on the sedition charge.

“After getting the details, we shall take a decision on the issue of withdrawing the sedition charge on the cartoonist,” he said.

The High Court while granting him bail observed that if drawing cartoons was the only allegation against him, then his custody was not required.

The division bench of Chief Justice Mohit Shah and Justice Nitin Jamdar directed Trivedi to be released on execution of a personal bail-bond of Rs 5,000.

The bail order was passed by the bench upon a public interest litigation by city-based lawyer Sanskar Marathe, who sought Trivedi’s release because his arrest was “illegal, bad in law, and unjustified”