Editorial, "SEDITION LAW AGAIN IN FOCUS," in LAW ANIMATED WORLD, 15 February 2016 issue, Vol. 12: Part 1, No. 3

SEDITION LAW AGAIN IN FOCUS

The political situation in our country is turning into a mess, with some extremist students resorting to excessive deeds, and counter-extremism is also on the rise. No two opinions on that the mindset and activities displayed in the above images are highly deplorable. Even if the hanging of certain persons felt unjust and, earlier, their sentences sought to be commuted on any grounds, that does not give license to anyone to go to the extent of hailing them as martyrs etc. It is really sad that when certain terrorists, guided and aided by our unfriendly neighbor Pakistan have staged a gory attack on Pathankot Air Base, killing some jawans, or when the dutiful soldiers in Siachen got buried in ice and died, and especially Sri Hanumanthappa, coming out luckily from icy burial and fighting with death for some days, also succumbed, these ‘patriotic’, ‘progressive’ etc. students, and teachers, of JNU did not find one word of sympathy for them or of condemnation of the attacks, but were too eager to demonstrate with cranky slogans on the third anniversary of Afzal Guru’s hanging, queerly in revenge for which the Pathankot attack was admittedly conducted. Further, Afzal was hanged against all conventional ethics by the UPA government, with Sonia and Rahul as the ruling party leaders, and when some action is taken by the government against the miscreant students, these opportunist leaders shamelessly rush to inflame passions against the government. Likewise it happened in HCU when Yakub Memon was lionized and perhaps in Madras also it may happen so if the nut Dilipan Mahendran, who burnt the national flag, be taken to task. It should be remembered that even the arrested JNU student leader Kanhaiya Kumar clearly declared: “An unfortunate incident occurred in our University on 9 February 2016 which I hereby condemn. …it transpires that inside JNU, some persons belonging to JNU as also some outsiders were giving out unconstitutional slogans. Therefore, per my commitment to the Constitution of India, I don't support such slogans and also appeal to one and all that in this regard no disturbance of peace be committed in the country, society and other Universities.” However, slapping sedition charges against the student (s) under Section 124 A is no good. This notorious provision in the Indian Penal Code, a colonial legacy under which eminent leaders like Tilak and Gandhi were jailed for long years, and scrapping which the national movement has persistently demanded, has to be repealed forthwith. All should remember that we have only one this country with so much diversity and tolerance to live in, compared to so many other countries the world over, and we should improve and not destroy this fabric of our society and character of our people, and commit ourselves to the protection and promotion of democracy, secularism and human welfare.  §§§