Cartoons cannot be stopped by law: JU professor

A Jadavpur University professor awarded compensation of Rs 50,000 by the West Bengal Human Rights Commission for being arrested after he emailed a cartoon allegedly derogatory to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, on Tuesday said such spoofs could not be stopped by laws.

"Cartoons cannot be forcibly stopped by law despite efforts by the state government. Students and youths will never accept such action," Mahapatra told mediapersons in Kolkata.

The WBHRC on Monday said that the state government must pay Rs 50,000 within six weeks to Professor Ambikesh Mahapatra and his neighbour Subrata Sengupta, for their arrest in a case which was a non-cognizable offence.

It also recommended departmental proceedings against two police officers.

Mahapatra and Sengupta were arrested on charge of e-mailing a spoof on the chief minister Mamata Banerjee and Railway Minister Mukul Roy taken from Satyajit Ray's children's film 'Sonar Kella' in April.