Misuse of Sedition a road towards Demo- autocracy

This article was written during the arrest of Aseem Trivedi but stayed in my draft for no reason....publishing now.

                                                                Cartoon:Premnath

Sedition (section 124 of the Indian Penal Code)- Whoever, by words, either spoken or written, or by signs, or by visible representation, or otherwise, brings or attempts to bring into hatred or contempt, or excites or attempts to excite disaffection towards the Government established by law in [India], shall be punished with [imprisonment for life], to which fine may be added, or with imprisonment which may extend to three years, to which fine may be added, or with fine.

The law on sedition serves the state and not the community. The above stated definition is only in printed form in the Indian law book. Now, it is defined as, that one should be silent and not ask questions even though injustice is rampant. It is our fundamental right to feel, think and express, under the Constitution, but citizens are being punished for painting a picture or writing a book or an article.

The latest victim of this policy is Cartoonist Aseem Trivedi, who was in Mumbai on charges of sedition.

These are the Aseem Trivedi’s cartoons which made him famous and a victim of sedition. Not only him, there are vast numbers of people accused of sedition. To take just one example, several hundred very ordinary men and women participating in the peaceful anti-nuclear agitation in Kudankulam have been charged with sedition. The government has been implementing a countrywide process of expropriation of common property resources -- land, water, forest, minerals and traditional knowledge such as knowledge of biodiversity. Communities, whose survival is dependent on their access to common property resources, find their survival threatened by this process of expropriation. Resisting this process becomes key to the survival of these communities , and the law of sedition is one of the important resources deployed by the state in order to suppress this entirely legitimate resistance. Communities cannot be expected to acquiesce in their own extinction, but the state seems perfectly prepared to deploy its resources, both juridical and military, in order to ensure that its writ should run.

Sedition is used to coerce the people who resist legitimately against the policies which can endanger their survival. If the misuse of sedition continues, the sedition may become a road towards demo-autocracy.

--Premnath D