From Obscenity to Gherao

From Obscenity to Gherao Nireekshak THE GRIMMEST story in recent weeks, recounted in Weekend Review (September 30). is on the press itself. It is as follows: On December 24. 1966, cartoonist Kerala Verma, who draws for Eastern Economist and Thought among other papers, was arrested and put into prison by the Delhi police for allegedly being the author of two 'obscene' posters aimed at the Prime Minister which appeared in August last year. He spent three gruesome days in Tihar Jail, in which (in the words of Weekend Review) "he was slowly stripped of all those attributes of personality and human dig. nity which distinguish one individual from another". The full story of what happened to him has been recounted by Kerala Verma himself. Verma was released on bail on the evening of December 27, 1966, after suffering various indignities. In a footnote to the story. Weekend Review significantly mentions that, on July 4, 1967, the police petitioned the Magistrate to permit them to withdraw their charges. Till then, obviously, the report Was sub judice. Now it has been recounted.