LIVING COLONIAL BRITISH LEGACY IN 2015 !
A circular of the Maharashtra Government has empowered the police to invoke sedition charges against any speech, sign or representation that is critical of the government or elected representatives in office, which also invokes hatred and violence. This is essentially a reiteration of Section 124-A of the IPC. The circular was issued following high court directions while dismissing sedition charges against cartoonist Aseem Trivedi, who was booked unjustifiably under the provision in 2012. The government’s latest circular, while reminding the police when not to invoke the section — as ordered by the court — has also ominously elaborated when it may be used to clamp down on criticism of the government. And that is what has the democratic ranks speak up in protest.

On the face of it there is not much that the government can be faulted for; Section 124-A does indeed provide for action against criticism, though only when it causes imminent threat to peace or incites hatred. The trouble lies with the section itself, which is a British legacy. It was obviously designed to facilitate the foreign rulers’ control over free speech and thought. That was then. Mere ‘criticism’ of the government today — no matter how unjustified —cannot be interpreted as sedition. Criticism thus need not be clubbed with speech that incites hatred or violence, which needs to be addressed separately. It would have been better if the government had told the police only not to invoke Section 124-A without legal clearance. As things stand today, a lot is left to the SHO’s interpretation of what may incite violence.