Now that Kanpur-based cartoonist Aseem Trivedi has been charged with
sedition for his cartoons that 'mocked' the country's political class,
Parliament and the national emblem, one has to bear in mind that the
word "sedition" does not actually figure anywhere in the Indian
Constitution. It is an offence against the state as enumerated in the
Indian Penal Code which is an 1860 Act ratified by the British to rule
over Indians. Section 124 A of the IPC was drawn up in 1860, just three
years after the British East India Company had weathered the storm of
the Sepoy Mutiny.
So yes, the case against Aseem is registered under Section 124A
of the IPC that is an 1860 Act which defines sedition as: "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."
A member of Repubican Party of India, Amit Katarnayea, had filed a
complaint against Trivedi that the latter had put up banners mocking
the Indian constitution during the Anna Hazare rally held last year at
the Bandra Kurla Complex.
Before Aseem, Dr Binayak Sen was also charged under the same section,
a charge the court threw away after the Chhattisgarh government's
attempts to put Sen away drew international rebuke. Many prominent
Indians - from Tilak to Gandhi to Jogendra Chandra Bose - have faced
sedition charges.
In India, where 'ignorance of law is no excuse,' the Constitution
however guarantees freedom of speech and expression. Article 19(1)(A)
of the Indian Constitution says that all citizens have the right to
freedom of speech and expression. The right to freedom of speech and
expression incorporates protection for austerely censuring existing
government structures, policies and administrative schemes, coupled with
protection for suggesting and recommending the development of other
system. Article 19 (2) of Indian Constitution says that, every citizen
of the country holds the right to air his or her opinion through the
printing or the electronic media, with certain restrictions imposed.
The recent cases of Dr Sen and Aseem reveal the archaic nature of
sedition charges, something that is not quite in sync with a modern
democracy which cherishes the ideals of freedom of expression and
speech. It is one of those numerous IPC codes drawn up in British India
to help the British Police to lord over native Indians, to crush every
small protest against British rule. Police reforms and an overhaul of
police laws is the only way to ensure that such regressive and
irrelevant sections are relegated to the pages of legal history.
