326 sedition cases filed in India from 2014 to 2019; six convicted

News Network
July 18, 2021

News Network, July 18: A total of 326 cases were registered in the country under the controversial colonial-era penal law on sedition between 2014 and 2019 in which just six persons were convicted.

The Supreme Court last week observed that Section 124 (A) of the IPC -- offence of sedition -- has been enormously misused and asked the Centre why it was not repealing the provision used by the British to "silence" people like Mahatma Gandhi to suppress the freedom movement.

According to the Union Home Ministry data, a total of 326 cases were registered under the sedition law between 2014 and 2019, with the highest 54 cases in Assam.

Out of these cases, charge sheets were filed in 141 cases while just six people were convicted for the offence during the six-year period.

The data of 2020 has not been compiled by the home ministry yet, officials said.

In Assam, out of the 54 sedition cases registered, charge sheets were filed in 26 cases and trials were completed in 25 cases.

However, there has not been a single conviction in the state in any of the cases between 2014 and 2019, the data says.

Jharkhand has registered 40 cases under Section 124 (A) of IPC during the six years in which charge sheets were filed in 29 cases and trials were completed in 16 cases in which just one person has been convicted.

In Haryana, 31 cases were registered under the sedition law in which charge sheets were filed in 19 cases and trials were completed in six cases in which just one person has been convicted.

Bihar, Jammu and Kashmir and Kerala have registered 25 cases each.

While Bihar and Kerala could not file a charge sheet in any of the cases, Jammu and Kashmir filed a charge sheet in three cases. However, no one was convicted in any of the three states between 2014 and 2019.

As many as 22 sedition cases were filed in Karnataka in which charge sheets were filed in 17 cases, but the trial could be completed in just one case. However, no one was convicted in any case in the period.

A total of 17 sedition cases were filed in Uttar Pradesh and eight in West Bengal between 2014 and 2019.

While charge sheets were filed in eight cases in UP and five cases in West Bengal, no one was convicted in the two states.

In Delhi, four sedition cases were registered between 2014 and 2019 but no charge sheet has been filed in any case.

No sedition case was filed in states and UTs of Meghalaya, Mizoram, Tripura, Sikkim, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Lakshadweep, Puducherry, Chandigarh, Daman and Diu, Dadra and Nagar Haveli in the six years.

One each sedition case was filed in three states -- Maharashtra (in 2015), Punjab (2015) and Uttarakhand (2017).

According to the home ministry data, 2019 saw the highest number of 93 sedition cases registered in the country, followed by 70 in 2018, 51 in 2017, 47 in 2014, 35 in 2016 and 30 in 2015.

While 40 charge sheets were filed in the country in 2019 under the sedition law, 38 were filed in 2018, 27 in 2017, 16 in 2016, 14 in 2014 and six in 2015.

Among the six convicted, two were sentenced in 2018 and one each in 2019, 2017, 2016 and 2014. No one was convicted in 2015.

On July 15, a Supreme Court bench headed by Chief Justice N V Ramana agreed to examine the pleas filed by the Editors Guild of India and a former major general challenging the Constitutionality of Section 124A (sedition) in the IPC.

The court said its main concern was the "misuse of law" leading to the rise in the number of cases.

The non-bailable provision makes any speech or expression that brings or attempts to bring into hatred or contempt or excites or attempts to excite disaffection towards the government established by law in India a criminal offence punishable with a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.

"Mr Attorney (General), we want to ask some questions. This is the colonial-era law and the same law was used by the British to suppress the freedom movement. It was used by the British to silence Mahatma Gandhi, Gokhale and others.

"Is it still necessary to keep this in statute even after 75 years of independence?" asked the bench which also comprised justices A S Bopanna and Hrishikesh Roy.

Comments

Ramesh Mishra
 - 
Monday, 19 Jul 2021

SEDITION CASES IN INDIA
In every Democratic country of the world, the Courts exist to uphold, interpret, and apply the law. India became free from Britain in 1947, India is following the Colonial Laws, even today India interpret the law by British lenses and irreparably injuring the public. In a Democratic Country, due process balances the power of law of the land and protects the individual person from it. When A Government harm a person without following the exact course of the law, this constitutes a due process violation, which offends the Rule of Law. The Indian Government is misapplying sedition law on their enemies, opposition and whoever Government decides to destroy. The sedition laws of India are inhumane and must be abolished and the Government is accountable for abusing the due process of law.

Ramesh Mishra
Victoria, BC, CANADA

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News Network
November 14,2024

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The UN special rapporteur for Palestine has slammed Israel’s parliament for passing a law authorizing the detention of Palestinian children, who are “tormented often beyond the breaking point” in Israeli custody.

Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur on the rights situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, in a Thursday post on X, characterized the experiences of Palestinian minors in Israeli detention as extreme and often inhumane.

The UN expert highlighted the grave impact of this policy, noting that up to 700 Palestinian minors are taken into custody each year, a practice she described as part of an unlawful occupation that views these children as potential threats.

Albanese said Palestinian minors in Israeli custody are “tormented often beyond the breaking point” and that “generations of Palestinians will carry the scars and trauma from the Israeli mass incarceration system.”

She further criticized the international community for its inaction, suggesting that ongoing diplomatic efforts, which often rely on the idea of resuming negotiations for peace, have contributed to normalizing such human rights violations against Palestinian children and the broader population.

The comments by Albanese came in response to Israel’s parliament (Knesset) passing a law on November 7 that authorizes the detention of Palestinian children under the age of 14 for “terrorism or terrorist activities.”

Under the legislation, a temporary five-year measure, once the individuals turn 14, they will be transferred to adult prison to continue serving their sentences.

Additionally, the law allows for a three-year clause that enables courts to incarcerate minors in adult prisons for up to 10 days if they are considered dangerous. Courts have the authority to extend this duration if necessary, according to the Knesset.

The legislation underscores a shift in the treatment of minors and raises alarms among human rights advocates regarding the legal and ethical ramifications of detaining children and the conditions under which they may be held.

Thousands of Palestinians, including hundreds of children and women, are currently in Israeli jails—around one-third without charge or trial. Also, an unknown number are arbitrarily held following a wave of arrests in the wake of the regime's genocidal war on Gaza.

Since the onset of the Gaza war, the Israeli regime, under the supervision of extremist minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, has turned prisons and detention centers into “death chambers,” the ministry of detainees and ex-detainees’ affairs in Gaza says.

Violence, extreme hunger, humiliation, and other forms of abuse of Palestinian prisoners have been normalized across Israel’s jail system, reports indicate.

Over 270 Palestinian minors are being detained by Israeli authorities, in violation of UN resolutions and international treaties that forbid the incarceration of children, as reported by Palestinian rights organizations.

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News Network
November 19,2024

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News Network
November 15,2024

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Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) has killed or captured 69 terrorists linked to the Israeli spy agency Mossad during a major counterterrorism drill in the country's southeast, its spokesman says.  

General Ahmad Shafaei, the spokesman for the “Martyrs of Security” drill, said Friday that a total of 23 terrorists have been killed and another 46 arrested in various clean-up operations ever since the IRGC Ground Force launched it in the Sistan and Baluchestan province on November 1.

Seven terrorists have also turned themselves in during the period.

“The undeniable fact about terrorists is that they rely on arrogant powers, particularly the intelligence service of the wicked and vicious Zionist regime," Shafaei said.

“Unfortunately, weapons and munitions at terrorists’ disposal are among the most sophisticated ones in the world. This accounts for their heavy dependence.” 

The official stated that several members of the disbanded terror teams were non-Iranian nationals, who had been hired by foreign intelligence agencies to carry out acts of sabotage and terror inside Iran.

In a most recent operation, six terrorists were arrested and four others were eliminated, three of whom were non-Iranians, he added. 

On October 26, ten members of Iran's law enforcement forces were killed in a terrorist attack in the Gohar Kuh district of Taftan in the Sistan and Baluchestan province.

The so-called Jaish al-Adl terrorist group claimed responsibility for the assault, which was one of the deadliest in the province in recent months.

The group has carried out numerous terrorist attacks in Iran, primarily in Sistan and Baluchestan.

Its tactics include the abduction of border guards as well as targeting civilians and police stations within the province to incite chaos and disorder.

In January, Iran launched a military operation during which the headquarters of the Pakistan-based terrorist group was targeted in missile strikes, destroying its infrastructure.

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