Sedition charge on Amnesty wrong

The filing of sedition charges by the Bangalore police against Amnesty India International is yet another instance of the growing trend of indiscriminate use of this draconian law against anyone without justification. Amnesty organised an event in the city as part of a campaign to highlight human rights violations in Kashmir. Cases of illegal detention, killings and disappearance were recounted at the meeting, and there were disorderly scenes with some participants raising slogans in support of the Indian Army and another group reportedly shouting pro-azaadi slogans. Amnesty India has clarified that it had only facilitated the meeting and none of its members were involved in sloganeering. It has also correctly defended its right to provide a forum for people whose constitutional rights were violated by the state. The premier human rights organisation has in the past also highlighted the violation of people’s rights in Kashmir and elsewhere, and its campaigns and reports have served to create greater awareness about the value of the rights.

It was on a complaint made by the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) that Section 124A of the IPC and other charges were filed against Amnesty. There is no ground to raise sedition charges against Amnesty or any person who participated in the meeting, even if azaadi slogans had been raised there. The Supreme Court has clearly said that criticism of the government or its actions and raising slogans cannot be considered sedition unless there is incitement to violence. There was no such situation at the Bengaluru meeting where the police were also present. The Indian Army and its actions should not be considered to be beyond criticism. It is wrong to dub all criticism as anti-national, too. The ABVP’s attack on Amnesty and others has another serious implication. It is that the excesses and rights violations in Kashmir and other disturbed areas are legitimate and should not be questioned.

Sedition charges have been invoked too frequently in the recent past. They were used against a cartoonist in Maharashtra, students in Delhi, a reservation activist in Gujarat and a singer in Tamil Nadu. The heavy-handed assaults on critics are intended to shrink the space for legitimate protests and dissent which are vital for democracy. To slap charges of sedition and other offences against critics is to deny them their freedom of expression. The sedition law is a 150-year-old colonial legacy. It was once used against freedom fighters  and is now used to harass and persecute critics of the government and the system. Most democratic countries, including Britain, have scrapped the sedition law from their statute book. It is high time it is removed from the Indian penal laws too.