Colonial legacy of the sedition law
Sedition law must be repealed
British
imperialism introduced many repressive and draconian laws to curb the dissent
in British India. The main purpose of these laws was to suppress the resistance
and freedom struggle of Indian people against imperialist occupation and
exploitation.
Both India
and Pakistan kept these repressive and draconian laws even after the independence
in 1947. The colonial legacy and mind set still dominates the both states. Both the states have been following the
colonial legacy and using these laws to curb and suppress the dissent. Both
sides declared all those who dare to challenge the state narrative as traitor
and foreign agent.
Every Pakistani
who dares to stand up to the state narrative and policies is called raw agent
while in India called the ISI agent. Despite having many differences- both
states follows the same colonial legacy.
The sedition
law was enacted in 1837 to originally mean to prevent any incitement against
British King. This law became a lethal tool in the hands of police to book
dissenters and freedom fighters as opposition and resistance against British
imperialism increased.
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.
The sedition
law and other draconian laws are being used to registered fabricated and bogus
cases to keep the accused in prison for long period of time. Mostly political
and social activists are framed in fabricated and false cases.
The Indian
state and Sedition law
The political and social activists in India
are accusing the Indian state for increased use of sedition law in the recent
period. Its use has increased under Modi in last few years. 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.
In Jharkhand
state of India, 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.
In February
2016, radical socialist student leader Kanhaiya Kumar was arrested on sedition
charges. Shehla Rashid, another radical student activist, was booked for
sedition over her tweets accusing Indian Army officers of torturing civilians
in Jammu and Kashmir.
Pakistani
state and Sedition law
Pakistan is
not far behind from India as far as sedition law is concerned. Pakistani state
continues to book political activists under this draconian law. The progressive
activists, intellectual and Professor Dr. Ammar Ali Jan- well known left leader
Farooq Tariq and few others were booked under this law in Lahore in November 2019
for organising a peaceful student solidarity march.
Last month-the
Islamabad police booked 23 political activists of Awami Workers Party and
Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM) under the sedition and terrorism charges. Their
only crime was that they were trying to organise a peaceful protest against the
arrest of PTM chief Manzoor Pashteen.
The Chief
Justice of Islamabad High Court Justice Athar Minallah dropped the sedition and
terrorism charges and released the all 23 activists. The chief justice
reprimands the Islamabad police and administration for charging highly educated
young activists with sedition law.
Now Ammar
Jan and other activists have challenged this sedition law in the Lahore High
Court. This law is clearly violates the basic human-democratic and political
rights enshrined in the constitution. There is no justification of such
repressive laws. They must be repealed.
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