The Sedition Law

Today, however, the government is charging increasing numbers of protesters with sedition – based on a colonial era law introduced in the late 19th century as a way of repressing those thought to be hostile to British rule. During the struggle for independence almost all the leaders of the movement, including Gandhi and Nehru, pleaded guilty to charges of sedition. Gandhi defended it as free speech, and told the judge that it was a “privilege” to be charged under this particular law: “If one has no affection for a person or system, one should be free to give the fullest expression to his disaffection, so long as he does not contemplate, promote or incite to violence”.
Sedition means dissent – in this case, dissent from agreement with those in power. Yet, in a democracy, citizens are free to disagree with their leaders and to express their own opinions. It seems strange that the sedition law survived the transition to independence in India, and stranger still that it is in such frequent use today, as more and more people face charges: from journalists to activists to students, or anyone who .decides to join a peaceful protest. Even schoolchildren: at the end of 2019 a primary school in Karnataka was charged with sedition for putting on a play that allegedly opposed the new Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA)