In the last ten years, 96 per cent of the sedition cases against 405 individuals pertained to making critical remarks against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, points out Ramesh Menon, author, Modi Demystified: The Making Of A Prime Minister.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday stayed the operation of sedition law, and ruled that all pending cases, appeals and proceedings with respect to charges framed for sedition should be kept in abeyance.
According to a National Crime Records Bureau report, a total of 356 cases of sedition -- as defined under section 124A of the IPC -- were registered and 548 people arrested between 2015 and 2020, out of which only six were convicted.
Justice Surya Kant, who was elevated as a judge of the Supreme Court on May 24, 2019, would have a tenure of over 1.2 years as the CJI. He is due to retire on February 9, 2027.
Justice Surya Kant is set to become the 53rd Chief Justice of India, bringing extensive experience and a record of significant verdicts on key issues.
Three Hindu temples were vandalized by a mob in Bangladesh's Chattogram on Friday, following protests and violence sparked by the arrest of a former ISKCON member on sedition charges. The attack occurred in the port city's Harish Chandra Munsef Lane, where the Shantaneshwari Matri Temple, the nearby Shoni Temple, and the Shantaneshwari Kalibari Temple were targeted. Temple authorities reported that a group of hundreds threw brickbats at the temples, causing damage to the Shoni Temple and the gates of the other two. The incident has triggered diplomatic tensions between India and Bangladesh, with both countries expressing concerns over the safety of their respective minorities.
A Delhi court has granted Lok Sabha MP Engineer Rashid, currently jailed on terror funding charges, permission to vote in the upcoming Vice Presidential election.
'Kudos to the SC & the CJI for standing up to the Govt on the gross misuse of this colonial law of sedition to silence dissent'
Bangladesh Bank's Financial Intelligence Unit (BFIU) sent these directives to different banks and financial institutions on Thursday, suspending all types of transactions in these accounts for a month, the Prothom Alo newspaper reported.
On Sunday, Pakistan defeated India by 10 wickets and none of the Men in Blue bowlers were able to leave an impact as Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan took the bowling to the cleaners.
The Centre is expected to apprise the court of the steps taken so far with regard to reviewing the contentious penal provision.
Shiv Sena-Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray leader Sanjay Raut has been booked on the charge of sedition and other offences for writing an objectionable article against Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the party mouthpiece Saamana, a senior official said on Tuesday.
The Supreme Court on Thursday expressed concern over the misuse of "colonial era" penal law on sedition and sought response of the Centre on pleas including the one filed by the Editors Guild of India challenging the validity of the provision.
The Supreme Court on Monday said it will examine the interpretation of sedition law, particularly in the light of media rights and free speech, as it gave protection to Telugu news channels -- TV5 and ABN Andhrajyothi -- from any coercive action in a case lodged against them under the colonial era provision.
In a series of tweets on August 17, Rashid had alleged that the armed forces entered houses in Kashmir at night and "ransacked" them. She had also alleged that four men were called to an Army camp in Shopian and "interrogated (tortured)".
A Hindu leader in Bangladesh, Chinmoy Krishna Das, had his bail hearing in a sedition case postponed for a month due to the absence of a lawyer to represent him. The hearing was scheduled for December 3rd, but was adjourned to January 2nd, 2024. Das was arrested on November 25th for alleged sedition and has been denied bail since. The incident has sparked protests from his supporters and has highlighted concerns about the safety of minorities in Bangladesh. The postponement of the bail hearing further delays a decision on his release.
As the Supreme Court on Wednesday put on hold the application of sedition law, Union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju invoked "Lakshman Rekha" guiding different institutions, including the Executive and the Judiciary, and said no one should cross their "boundary".
Justice Manoj Kumar Ohri noted the prosecutor appearing in the case hadn't appeared on the last four to five occasions.
A police official said Chudawala was at the forefront in raising the slogan 'Sharjeel tere sapno ko hum manzil tak pahuchaege (Sharjeel, We will realise your dreams)." A complaint in this regard was lodged by former Bharatiya Janata Party MP Kirit Somaiya on February 2.
Sarma had earlier said the state-wide crackdown on traitors would continue, and nobody would be spared.
Singh was booked under IPC sections 124-A (sedition) and 153-A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc) of the IPC at Raipur's City Kotwali police station late on Thursday night, Raipur Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Ajay Yadav said.
'And then the people who call themselves great nationalists, I can bet you that 99 per cent of them are dodging taxes, have sent their kids to America, or are doing everything to make sure that what goes on in this country doesn't affect their personal wealth or their whatever bull*&$%.'
Amnesty India said allegations mentioned in a complaint by an Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad representative against it were "without substance".
'The law under the guise of security represents a grave and unnecessary expansion of State power at the cost of fundamental rights,' asserts Aakar Patel.
The lawyer had sought a ban from the high court on the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) after placing some newspaper reports related to the organisation on Wednesday.
India has expressed serious concern over the increasing incidents of violence and extremist rhetoric against minorities in Bangladesh, urging the interim government to fulfill its responsibility of protecting all minorities. The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson, Randhir Jaiswal, stated that India has consistently raised the issue of threats and targeted attacks on Hindus and other minorities with the Bangladeshi government. Jaiswal emphasized that these developments cannot be dismissed as mere media exaggeration and called upon Bangladesh to take immediate steps to ensure the safety and security of minorities.
The Meerut Conspiracy Case was aimed at curbing communist influence in India. However, it fueled nationwide sympathy, shaping the course of leftist politics in the country.
A sessions court in Hyderabad acquitted 21 youth on Wednesday, who were booked on charges of waging war against the state and viewing jihadi material.
A lawyer was killed on Tuesday during clashes between the security personnel and followers of a Hindu community leader, who was denied bail and sent to jail by a court in the port city of Chattogram in Bangladesh, police said.
The three students, two of them aged 20 and one 21, were also remanded in 14-day judicial custody by an Agra court, the officials said.
Why should an elected government, any party's government, need a law to protect itself from its people? asks Shekhar Gupta.
'I'm sure those few terrorists who are continuing to operate in the Valley are not reading books.' 'Are they trying to tell us that there are certain people who first intellectualise themselves and then go about picking up guns?' 'It is absolutely absurd.'
The Delhi high court on Tuesday said it will hear on May 26 a plea by JNU student Sharjeel Imam, who has been arrested in a case related to alleged inflammatory speeches made by him during the protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act and the National Register of Citizens in 2019, seeking interim bail.
India on Monday described as 'deeply regrettable' an incident of breach of the premises of Bangladesh Assistant High Commission in Agartala by a group of people protesting against the arrest of Hindu monk Chinmoy Krishna Das in the neighbouring country.
The police on Thursday booked litterateur Hiren Gohain, Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti chief Gogoi and senior journalist Manjit Mahanta under sedition charges for their comments on the Citizenship Amendment Bill.
There are laws that are as out of time and place today as the Rowlatt Act was a century ago, explains Aakar Patel.
Defending the panel's recommendation to retain the law, which is at present under abeyance following directions of the Supreme Court issued in May last year, he said enough safeguards have been proposed to prevent its misuse.
Police sources claimed that during investigations it was noted that allegations were "mischievous" and "lacked substance".
The complainant had in the statement claimed that Sultana spread false news about the spread of Covid-19 in the Union Territory during a debate on a Malayalam TV channel.
"Actually it (sedition law) requires reconsideration. We do not know what is the problem, what are the difficulties. We will hear all the stakeholders, consult criminal lawyers," the former Supreme Court judge told PTI.
