Between 2014-19, 326 cases of sedition were registered in India, only six people got punishment.

New Delhi, 18/7 :Between 2014 and 2019, 326 cases were registered under the controversial punitive law on sedition, of which only six were punished. The Supreme Court last week said Section 124 (A) of the IPC for the offense of sedition was extensively misused and asked the Center to “silence” people like Mahatma Gandhi for suppressing the freedom movement by the British. Why is it not abolishing the provisions used to get it done.

According to the Union Home Ministry data, a total of 326 cases were registered under the sedition law between 2014 and 2019, of which the maximum 54 cases were registered in Assam. Of these cases, chargesheets were filed in 141 while only six persons were convicted for the offense during the six-year period. Officials said that the Ministry of Home Affairs has not yet collected the figures for 2020. Of the 56 cases registered in Assam, chargesheets were filed in 26 and trial was completed in 25 cases. However, no one was convicted in a single case in the state between 2014 and 2019.

 

In Jharkhand, 40 cases were registered under Section 124 (A) of the IPC during six years, out of which charge sheets were filed in 29 cases and trial was completed in 16 cases in which only one person was convicted. In Haryana, 31 cases were registered under the Sedition Act, out of which charge sheets were filed in 19 cases and trial was completed in six cases in which only one person was convicted. Bihar, Jammu and Kashmir and Kerala have registered 25 cases each. In Bihar and Kerala, charge sheets could not be filed in any case while in Jammu and Kashmir charge sheets were filed in three cases. However, no one was convicted in any of the three states between 2014 and 2019.