“The law on sedition in section 124A of the Indian Penal Code is a legacy of the colonial era and it should be repealed as it attacks the life and liberty of people in the country.” This view was held by People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) at a press conference in the national capital on Monday to announce the launch of an all-India campaign against sedition and other repressive laws.

The orgnisation observes that sedition law is one of the many repressive laws in the country that are being misused by the central and state agencies to suppress voices raised against them.

Addressing the press conference, justice Rajinder Sachar, ex-chief justice of Delhi and Sikkim, said that the new laws being incorporated in the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) are becoming more stringent, stamping the liberty of people. Sachar said that despite the fact that the supreme court upheld the constitutionality of the sedition law and former prime minister of India Jawaharlal Nehru’s views against the provision, the central and state governments are not doing anything to review the law. Instead, he said, they frequently misuse the law to suppress dissenting voices.

Justice Sachar emphasised his point saying that in most cases there has been no conviction.

National secretary of PUCL V Suresh said that recently the Tamil Nadu government booked more than 3,000 people protesting against the Koodankulam Nuclear Power Plant under the sedition law and locked them up in jail, which was a blatant misuse of law. Suresh alleged that the prosecution has a habit of putting every protest under the clause of sedition - waging war against the country.

Arjun Singh from People’s Democratic Front of India (PDFI), another organisation working for the protection and promotion of rights of tribals and other deprived masses, said that the law is incompatible with democracy as it is the right of every citizen to raise his/her voice against the misdeeds of the government and throw it out of power, if required, through democratic means.

On 31 January, a convention will be held at Gandhi Peace Foundation in Delhi to officially launch the campaign where delegates from various organisations from different states of the country will share their experiences and views on sedition and other laws which they think are repressive.

As National Crime Records Bureau or State Crime Record Bureaus do not keep a record on the convictions/booking made under sedition law, these organisations have also collected the data on the number of people booked or convicted under this law by visiting various prisons across the country. This data will also be shared in the convention by delegates.

The campaign is a joint initiative by various Human Rights Activists’ groups which include organisations like PUCL (People’s Union for Civil Liberties), PUDR (People’s Union for Democratic Rights), Human Rights Law Network, etc. These organisations had aggressively campaigned for the release of Binayak Sen, who was imprisoned in May 2007 by the security agencies in Chhattisgarh for his alleged links with Maoist extremists, and was later released on bail by the Supreme Court.  Binayak Sen is the national vice-president of the PUCL.