Abuse of archaic law

 Going by the all too frequent reports of sedition cases being filed by the government against scores of people, it indicates that India is under threat from secessionists. A new database launched by Article 14 in February 2021 showed that 96% of the sedition cases filed against 405 Indians for criticising political leaders and governments over the last decade were registered after the Narendra Modi government first came to power in 2014. The report revealed, that of these, 149 people were accused of making “critical” or “derogatory” remarks against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and 144 against Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Adityanath.Section 124A of the Indian Penal Code or the draconian sedition law has always been contentious which for long, was employed by the colonial rulers to imprison freedom fighters including Mahatma Gandhi. The same law under IPC, like its equivalent in other former British-ruled countries, offers a legal framework to categorize a citizen(especially of a colonial state) as a threat to the state( the British colonial empire). Globally, it is increasingly viewed as a draconian law and most significantly, was revoked in the United Kingdom in 2010, from where it was birthed. In the present day independent and democratic India, people are being arrested for voicing out their opinion as part of their fundamental rights. The fundamental right encased in article 19(1)(a) of the Indian Constitution guarantees all its citizens their right to freedom of speech and expression. Sedition laws are not only discriminatory but also against the very spirt of the Indian constitution where justice and equality are supreme.There are many cases where critics of the government, have been charged with sedition, some under specious pretexts. A case in point is that of Aisha Sultana, a film actress and film director of Lakshadweep, who was booked for sedition for alleging, during a TV debate, that the central government used biological weapons to spread Covid-19. What Sultana was emphasising was that till 2020, Lakshadweep had ‘nil’ Covid cases. But from January 18,2021 when the first Covid case was recorded, it has now spiralled to over 7000 cases. This was mainly after Patel did away with the strict Covid protocols that were in place in Lakshadweep. The Union Territory is experiencing not only the onslaught from Covid but also a turmoil after Praful Khoda Patel took over as the Administrator on December 5,2020. Patel was home minister in Gujarat under Modi in 2010 and has become so controversial that even several BJP legislators of the Union Territory, have demanded his recall. Many of those charged with sedition cases, suffer similar fates as those booked under NIA, AFSPA or even NSA with the onus of proving their own innocence. If there is to be some justice even with the misuse of the archaic, draconian and anti-human rights law, people who are destroying societies, trampling over their constitutional rights and even causing harm on the law abiding citizens should also be booked under this black law. The courts are called upon to ensure that the almost regular use of black laws to victimise citizens for voicing out differences and exercising their freedom of speech or using CBI and ED to arm twist political opponents or critics is not part of Indian democracy.