India: Sharp rise in invoking sedition law to curb dissent

New Delhi, India

Over the past few years, law enforcement agencies in India have been increasingly using the colonial-era law of sedition to curb dissent.

According to the data compiled by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), the number of sedition cases registered across the country doubled from 35 in 2016 to 75 in 2018. Although official data of 2019, has not been released, activists fear the number could be in thousands.

They point out that in the eastern province of Jharkhand alone, police had booked 10,000 tribals under the sedition law last year.

Enacted in 1837, the law was originally meant to prevent any incitement against the British monarch. Legal experts say it has off late emerged a lethal tool in the hands of police to book dissenters.

Late last month, a 26-year-old female teacher was booked under sedition charges in the southern province of Karnataka for directing a play performed by fourth standard students. The play, performed at Shaheen Educational Institute in Karnataka’s Bidar district had mocked at the recently enacted citizenship law, believed to be discriminatory against Muslims.

Two days later, on Jan. 28, Sharjeel Imam, a student activist, was arrested in his hometown in the eastern province of Bihar, for allegedly delivering inflammatory speeches against the citizenship law. The Delhi court sent him to five days of police custody. Another 51 protesters were booked under the law, for shouting slogans in Mumbai in support of Imam.

In another case, a 16-year-old boy, a minor, who worked as a cleaner at a roadside food stall was charged with sedition, alongside 19 others, at Azamgarh in India’s largest province of Uttar Pradesh. Police allege that the boy and others were involved in rioting during the protests.

Law used arbitrarily

“The governments are used to be treated like a god. Currently, People are openly opposing and articulating resistance. But no matter how extreme the reaction or resistance is in words or sloganeering, it requires actions and not just words to be booked under sedition, “said Colin Gonsalves, a senior advocate in the Indian Supreme Court.

The sedition law was drafted in the colonial era in 1837 by Thomas Babington Macaulay. The law was introduced to suppress dissent against the British crown. Under the provision, anyone has seen create disaffection against the government can be imprisoned up to three years to a life term. India’s freedom icon Mahatma Gandhi was also charged and tried under sedition charges by the British in 1922.

In Jharkhand, 10,000 tribals were booked under sedition for protesting against the government for issuing an order allowing commercial use of tribal land.

“These people were booked for creating disaffection against the government. Four activists working on their movement, were booked under similar charges for writing on social media and sharing news clippings,” said Gunjan Singh, senior advocate at the Human Rights Law Network (HRLN).

“The bar for charging someone with sedition is set very high in the legal books. And most of these FIRs are bogus, as there is no evidence. Putting people behind bars on such charges is only an ad-hoc measure to suppress dissent,” adds Singh.

Government has no plans to repeal the law

In October, police in Bihar filed a case of sedition against 49 people, including well-known movie personalities, for writing an open letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressing concerns over hate crimes and mob violence targeting minority communities. After an uproar, the charges against these personalities were dropped.

In February 2016, student leader Kanhaiya Kumar was arrested on sedition charges. Shehla Rashid, another student activist, was booked for sedition over her tweets accusing Indian Army officers of torturing civilians in Jammu and Kashmir.

The government has ruled out any plans to repeal this colonial-era law, despite demands from civil society and opposition parties.

"There is no proposal to scrap the provision under the IPC dealing with the offense of sedition. There is a need to retain the provision to effectively combat anti-national, secessionist and terrorist elements," said Nityanand Rai, junior minister of internal security.

The main opposition Congress, in its manifesto released before the last year parliament elections, had promised to remove the law on sedition from the statute.