Goa: Man booked for sharing satirical cartoon on PM Modi
The cartoon showed Modi in the form of a chameleon next to the tricolour.
The Goa Police on Tuesday booked a man for allegedly insulting the national flag and Prime Minister Narendra Modi through a social media post, The Indian Express reported.
Nazario D’Souza, a resident of Panaji, had shared a satirical cartoon on Facebook on August 13. The cartoon was drawn by artist Mir Suhail and showed Modi in the form of a chameleon next to the tricolour.
The cartoon appeared to allude to the “Har Ghar Tiranga” campaign, as part of which the Centre encouraged citizens to post selfies with the national flag on social media on Independence Day.
A first information report was filed based on a complaint by Inacio Domnic Pereira, ward member of Panaji’s Santa Cruz panchayat. He said that on the eve of Independence day, he came across a “deeply offensive and derogatory post” on D’Souza’s Facebook profile.
“In this post, he depicted the prime minister of our country as a chameleon on the national flag,” the complaint said. “This blatant disrespect not only undermines the dignity of our national symbols, but also insults our honourable prime minister.”
D’Souza has been booked under Section 500 (punishment for defamation) of the Indian Penal Code and Section 2 (Insults to Indian National Flag and Constitution of India) of Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act 1971.
“A probe has been initiated and the accused has been given a notice to join the investigation,” an unidentified police officer told The Indian Express.