Skip to main content

Sedition law: Independent India carrying imperial legacy to 'silence' dissent, criticism

By Prem Verma*

The Indian sedition law owes its origin to the British Sedition Act of 1661, an Act of Parliament of England which was passed as an Act for safety and Preservation of His Majesties Person and Government against treasonable and seditious practices and attempts. However sedition was abolished in Great Britain through the Coroners and Justice Act of 2009.
The sedition law in India was inserted into IPC under Section 124A in 1870 when Britain ruled India. This Law states: 
“Whoever, by words, either spoken or written, or by signs, or by visible representation, or otherwise, brings or attempts to bring into hatred or contempt, or excites or attempts to excite disaffection towards, the Government established by law in India, shall be punished with imprisonment for life, to which a fine may be added; or, with imprisonment which may extend to three years, to which a fine may be added; or, with fine.”
Bal Gangadhar Tilak and Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi were two prominent leaders who were imprisoned under this Act during the British rule of India.
The irony is that Great Britain abolished this undemocratic Act in 2009 with the prophetic words: “Sedition and seditious and defamatory libel are arcane offences -- from a bygone era when freedom of expression wasn’t seen as the right it is today... Freedom of speech is now seen as the touchstone of democracy, and the ability of individuals to criticise the state is crucial to maintaining freedom”.
However, Independent India is still carrying this imperial legacy in the form of silencing dissent and criticism in the so-called democracy. It has been widely used against popular movements and individuals speaking up against the establishment.
The Preamble of the Constitution of India is very clear in declaring that it secures to all its citizens liberty of thought, expression, belief, faith and worship. The Constitution of India under Article 19(1)(a) guarantees to all its citizens the right to freedom of speech and expression. The law states that, “All citizens shall have the right to freedom of speech and expression”. However under Article 19(2) “reasonable restrictions can be imposed on the exercise of this right for certain purposes”.
Seditious reasons have been misused by the Government in imprisoning those who differ from the Government point of view, thus negating the freedom of speech guaranteed by the Constitution. A plethora of intellectuals, journalists, social activists, writers, tribal sympathizers, etc. have been put behind bars with no scope for bail or quick hearing in Courts.
One remembers such tall thinkers and activists as Gautam Navlakha, Anand Teltumbde, Varavara Rao, Sudha Bhardwaj, Stan Swamy, Umar Khalid, etc. who have been arrested under sedition/Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) charges with no quick hope of redemption.
The sedition law has been invoked to arrest dissidents often without bail while they await trial -- sometimes for years. Police arrested Disha Ravi, a 22-year-old environmental campaigner, for sharing a tweet in support of the farmers’ movement. Farmers have been arrested in good numbers for opposing the three farm laws that this Government wants to implement by force.
Gandhi when charged with sedition in 1922 told the Court :
Section 124A under which I am happily charged is perhaps the prince among the political sections of the Indian Penal Code designed to suppress the liberty of the citizen. Affection cannot be manufactured or regulated by law. If one has no affection for a person or system, one should be free to give the fullest expression to his disaffection, so long as he does not contemplate, promote or incite to violence.”
Sedition has today become a convenient legal tool to stifle any voice that goes against what the state perceives as nationalism or patriotism. We must remember at this stage what Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore warned us : "I will never allow patriotism to triumph over humanity for as long as I live.”
The Constitution of USA, whose democratic traditions the world looks up to, has a very strong First Amendment stating that Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.
Attempts to regulate or restrict the First Amendment on the pretext of security, patriotism or otherwise have been thrown out by the American Courts as restricting the First Amendment guaranteed under the Constitution.
Rabindranath Tagore warned us: I will never allow patriotism to triumph over humanity for as long as I live
On First Amendment cases, the US Supreme Court Justices have issued rulings that have protected the speech of unpopular individuals and groups against government censorship. Cases concerning government attempts to crush union and student protests of the Vietnam war, flag-burning and Nazi protests established free speech as an essential protection for people with minority opinions who were in danger of being silenced by the majority.
India similarly must throw out from the statute books laws like sedition, UAPA and other similar Acts and allow the public freedom of speech guaranteed under our Constitution.
Without public criticism and consequent change in course of action India will remain a false democracy not reflecting the will and decisions of its population. The danger to becoming an autocratic ruled country then becomes real and frightening.
Echoing the appeal of Mohd Zeeshan Ahmad and Zain Haider on the sedition issue, one has to concur with the same:
"Lack of guidelines on arrest and inquiry gives further room for abuse of this law. As the latest National Crime Records Bureau data shows, there is a mere 3.3% conviction rate for sedition in the 93 registered cases. The UK scrapped its sedition law in 2009 on grounds that it is arcane and irrelevant and suppresses freedom of speech. This should be India’s aim too. The Law Commission said in a 2018 consultation paper that it is ‘time to re-think or repeal’ the section.”
Shashi Tharoor writing his comments on the book written by Supreme Court Advocate Chitranshul Sinha entitled ‘The Great Repression’ mentions:
"Chitranshul Sinha’s trenchant exposition of the History of sedition laws in India is an exceptionally well researched and strongly argued case against this antiquated and undemocratic tool of repression.”
___
Convener, Jharkhand Nagrik Prayas

Comments

TRENDING

Insider plot to kill Deendayal Upadhyay? What RSS pracharak Balraj Madhok said

By Shamsul Islam*  Balraj Madhok's died on May 2, 2016 ending an era of old guards of Hindutva politics. A senior RSS pracharak till his death was paid handsome tributes by the RSS leaders including PM Modi, himself a senior pracharak, for being a "stalwart leader of Jan Sangh. Balraj Madhok ji's ideological commitment was strong and clarity of thought immense. He was selflessly devoted to the nation and society. I had the good fortune of interacting with Balraj Madhok ji on many occasions". The RSS also issued a formal condolence message signed by the Supremo Mohan Bhagwat on behalf of all swayamsevaks, referring to his contribution of commitment to nation and society. He was a leading RSS pracharak on whom his organization relied for initiating prominent Hindutva projects. But today nobody in the RSS-BJP top hierarchy remembers/talks about Madhok as he was an insider chronicler of the immense degeneration which was spreading as an epidemic in the high echelons of th

Central pollution watchdog sees red in Union ministry labelling waste to energy green

By Chythenyen Devika Kulasekaran*  “Destructors”, “incinerators” and “waste-to-energy (WTE) incineration” all mean the same thing – indiscriminate burning of garbage! Having a history of about one and a half centuries, WTE incinerators have seen several reboots over the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries. 

First-of-its-kind? 'Eco-friendly, low cost' sewage treatment system installed in Gujarat

Counterview Desk Following the installation of the Unconventional Decentralized Multi-Stage Reactor (UDMSR) for sewage treatment, a note on what is claimed to be the  first-of-its-kind technology said, the treated sewage from this system “can be directly utilized for agricultural purposes”, even as proving to be a “saviour in the times of water crisis.”

A Hindu alternative to Valentine's Day? 'Shiv-Parvati was first love marriage in Universe'

By Rajiv Shah*   The other day, I was searching on Google a quote on Maha Shivratri which I wanted to send to someone, a confirmed Shiv Bhakt, quite close to me -- with an underlying message to act positively instead of being negative. On top of the search, I chanced upon an article in, imagine!, a Nashik Corporation site which offered me something very unusual. 

Indo-Bangla border: Farmers facing 'illegal obstacles' in harvesting, transporting yields

  Counterview Desk  In a representation to the chairperson, National Human Rights Commission, human rights defender Kirity Roy, who is secretary, Banglar Manabadhikar Suraksha Mancha (MASUM), has said that Border Security Force (BSF) personnel are creating "illegal obstacles" for farmers seeking to harvest their ripened yields and transport them to the market in village Jhaukuthi of Cooch Behar district.

Wasteland, a colonial legacy, being used to 'give away' vast tracts to Ratnagiri refinery

By Fouziya Tehzeeb* William D’Souza, a 55-year old farmer from Kuthethur, Mangalore, was busy mixing cattle feed when we arrived at his doorsteps. Around 25 km from the bustling city of Mangalore, Kuthethur is a lush green village with thick vegetation. On the way to William’s house the idyllic view gets blocked by the flares and smoke arising from the Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Limited (MRPL).

'Flawed' argument: Gandhi had minimal role, naval mutinies alone led to Independence

Counterview Desk Reacting to a Counterview  story , "Rewiring history? Bose, not Gandhi, was real Father of Nation: British PM Attlee 'cited'" (January 26, 2016), an avid reader has forwarded  reaction  in the form of a  link , which carries the article "Did Atlee say Gandhi had minimal role in Independence? #FactCheck", published in the site satyagrahis.in. The satyagraha.in article seeks to debunk the view, reported in the Counterview story, taken by retired army officer GD Bakshi in his book, “Bose: An Indian Samurai”, which claims that Gandhiji had a minimal role to play in India's freedom struggle, and that it was Netaji who played the crucial role. We reproduce the satyagraha.in article here. Text: Nowadays it is said by many MK Gandhi critics that Clement Atlee made a statement in which he said Gandhi has ‘minimal’ role in India's independence and gave credit to naval mutinies and with this statement, they concluded the whole freedom struggle.

CAA disregards India's inclusive plural ethos, 'betrays' ideals of freedom struggle: PUCL

Counterview Desk    "Outraged" at the move of the Central government to implement the Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019 (CAA 2019) weeks before the election, the top rights group, People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), has demanded that the law be repealed. 

Buddhist shrines were 'massively destroyed' by Brahmanical rulers: Historian DN Jha

Nalanda mahavihara By Our Representative Prominent historian DN Jha, an expert in India's ancient and medieval past, in his new book , "Against the Grain: Notes on Identity, Intolerance and History", in a sharp critique of "Hindutva ideologues", who look at the ancient period of Indian history as "a golden age marked by social harmony, devoid of any religious violence", has said, "Demolition and desecration of rival religious establishments, and the appropriation of their idols, was not uncommon in India before the advent of Islam".

Sections of BSF, BGB personnel 'directly or indirectly' involved in cross border smuggling

By Kirity Roy*  The Border Security Force (BSF) of India and the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) of Bangladesh met for 54th Director General level meeting at Dhaka, Bangladesh, on 5th to 9th March, 2024 to discuss on minimizing killings at border area, illegal intrusion, trafficking of drugs and other narcotics, smuggling of arms and ammunitions and other crimes at bordering areas. Further, the summit had an agenda to discuss on overall development in 150 yards area at both sides of the border and design an activity plan for the same.