In what is being seen by the Congress-led Opposition and civil society members as an attempt to ‘muzzle’ the freedom of expression, the Maharashtra Government has — through a controversial resolution — has vested powers with the police to invoke Section 124-A (sedition) against persons, for their “words/signs, or representations” spoken or made against politicians or public servants who are representatives of the Government”
The guidelines issued to various police stations in Maharashtra, through a GR dated August 27, 2015, sparked vociferous protests in the State, with various Opposition parties and civil society members dubbing the move to attempt to “muzzle” the voice of the opposition parties and citizens.
The guidelines on the pre-conditions for invocation of the section 124—A ( sedition) have been issued in accordance with the assurance given the State Advocate General in affidavit submitted before the Bombay High Court in the cartoonist Aseem Trivedi case.
The State Government gave the assurance to the HC after the sedition charges were dropped against Trivedi, who was arrested by Mumbai Police in 2012 for drawing cartoons that allegedly insulted the national emblem and Parliament.
Though the GR disallows the police from invoking 124-A (sedition) for “all such comments expressing disapproval or criticism of the Government with a view to obtaining a change of government by lawful means”, one of the guidelines mentioned in the GR has proved to be a major bone of contention between the BJP-led saffron alliance Government and the Opposition parties and like-minded civil society members.
In its affidavit, the State Government had told the high court that one of the pre-conditions for invoking Section 124 ( A) was: “Words signs or representations against politicians or public servants by themselves do not fall in this category, unless the words/signs/representations show them as representatives of the Government”.
In an apparent tweaking of the said guideline, the GR issued by the Home department of the Maharashtra Government in Marathi states: that the police could invoke Section 124-A of IPC against such persons for their “the words, signs and representations made against such politicians or public servants who are representatives of the Government”.
The first of the pre-conditions states: “the words, signs or representations must bring the Government (Central or State) into disrepute or contempt or must cause or attempt to cause disaffection, enmity or disloyalty in the government and the words/signs/representations must also be incitement to violence or must be intended or tend to create public disorder or a reasonable apprehension of public disorder”. The Opposition and civil societies fear that the State Government might misuse the guidelines to muzzle the voice of its opponents and critics.
Dubbing the State Government’s interpretative guidelines on the invocation of section 124-A (sedition) as “undemocratic”, leader of the Opposition in the Maharashtra Assembly Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil of the Congress took objection to the controversial guideline and said: “The guidelines are completely undemocratic...The state government has failed on all fronts and appears to have misused the guidelines for its own convenience. This is condemnable.”