New Delhi: 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
12:07 PM, Sep 10, 2012
New Delhi: There is little that Arundhati Roy has in common with Mahatma Gandhi. If Delhi police books the writer-activist for her remarks on Jammu and Kashmir, she will join a league of eminent people booked under the controversial law for acts of defiance against the state. During his sedition trial in 1922, Mahatma Gandhi had said “Section 124 A, under which I am happily charged, is perhaps the prince...
12:42 PM, Oct 27, 2010
New Delhi: The Delhi Police are ready to book hardline separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani and writer-activist Arundhati Roy for sedition. Here are some facts on what constitutes sedition and its punishment under the Indian Penal Code. What is sedition? The section 124A of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) deals with sedition. Definition: Whoever by words, either spoken or written, or by signs, or by visible representation, or otherwise,...
04:38 PM, Oct 26, 2010
