TN singer's arrest, a horrible act

The arrest of a folk singer, S Kovan, by the Tamil Nadu Police last week on sedition charges is
gross misuse of power and of one of the most draconian provisions in the Indian Penal Code. Kovan is the lead singer of a leftist group which has been campaigning against alcoholism and criticising the state government’s promotion of liquor trade. The Tamil Nadu government is into the retail trade of liquor since 2002, and the AIADMK government under Chief Minister Jayalalitha had initiated it. Kovan’s songs highlight the contradiction between the welfare policies of the government and its liquor policy which has a deleterious impact on the health and finances of the people. The criticism is strongly satirical and the popular tunes have gone viral in the state. Jayalalitha has also been ridiculed and caricatured in a video accomp-anying the song, but there is nothing in the songs or video that invites such a harsh response from the state.

Every citizen has the right to criticise government policies and it is a violation of the right to free speech and expression to haul up people for exercising the right. It is intolerance of a different kind. Jayalalitha has been known for her authoritarian style which brooks no dissent and criticism. The police have said Kovan crossed the limit, but the limit was laid by the government. Even if there was anything offensive about the song, there was no reason to proceed against the singer under the sedition law. Sedition is an uprising against and challenge of the state, and it has to be accompanied by incitement to violence to overthrow the state. The charge had been invoked against freedom fighters and leaders including Gandhiji by the British. Section 124A of the IPC has descended from the colonial law, and there is no justification for invoking it against an artist who made a moral and political criticism of the government.

Courts have repeatedly criticised governments for invoking this law against critics of official policies and actions. But governments have frequently employed the provision against their critics. The Maharashtra government recently warned that criticism of public servants would invite sedition charges. It withdrew the warning after a public uproar. Cartoonist Aseem Trivedi, Patel agitation leader Hardik Patel and anti-nuclear protesters were all hauled up under this law. Governments are increasingly using excessive state power to curb legitimate criticism. The misuse of the law needs to be strongly opposed. There is in fact no need to retain this provision in the IPC. Many democracies have scrapped sedition laws from their statute books.