Sedition Charges against the founder of Barak Bulletin and the history of Sedition in India

For writing an Editorial Piece, a case has been filed against the founder of Barak Bulletin, Mr. Anirban Roy Choudhury. The case is under Sedition Charges; Section 124-A of the Indian Panel Code along with Sections 153-A, 501 & 505. The editorial in question is about the recent events that occurred in Barak Valley following Mr. Pradip Dutta Roy’s arrest. The title of the Editorial is “Welcome to the Paradise of the Spineless – We are Assamese, ‘Bhasha Shaheeds’ Are Dead and so are their Descendants.” 

Mr. Pradip Dutta Roy is the chief convenor of Barak Democratic Front, a veteran advocate and a former student leader who was arrested over a protest against a poster in Assamese texts at a petrol station in Meherpur Area and demanded the poster to be replaced with one having Bengali texts instead, stating that as per the Assam Official Language (Amendment) Act 1961, Bengali is the official language of Barak Valley.

The FIR against the founder of Barak Bulletin was lodged by one Shantanu Sutradhar over an editorial written by Mr. Anirban Roy Choudhury. In the editorial he shared his point of view and opinion over the incident that led to the arrest of Mr. Pradip Dutta Roy & questioned the masses over their silence on Mr. Pradip Dutta Roy’s arrest. He was critical towards the government as well. Perhaps the criticism led Shantanu Sutradhar to file a case against him.

The case is filed under Sections 153-A, 124-A, 501, and 505. 153-A is for promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc. 124-A is for sedition. 501 is for printing or engraving matters known to be defamatory, and 505 is for statements conducing to public mischief. The interesting part about the sedition charge is that it was used by British Government against Indians criticizing or speaking anything against them.

The law of Sedition and It's History

The Sedition Charges as per Section 124-A of IPC reads 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 extend to three years, to which fine may added, or with fine.” This law was enacted during the British Raj in 1886, to prevent any and all sorts of offenses against the state.

The law may say its intention was to prevent offenses against the state, but British Government used it to suppress freedom fighters and imprison them. Under this law, many freedom fighters such as Mahatma Gandhi, Bal Gangadhar Tilak and others were arrested for criticizing the policies of the colonial administration.

After Independence KM Munshi, who was elected to the Constituent Assembly from Bombay on a Congress Party Ticket and was one of the most active members at the Assembly. He argued that a law of this sort is a threat to democracy in India. “as a matter of fact, the essence of democracy is criticizing the government” he stated during his argument. Due to his efforts, the word sedition was omitted from the constitution, only to be reimposed by the very controversial First Amendment that was passed by the government headed by India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru.

As per Kedar Nath Judgment 1962, this law is supposed to be applied in rare instances where the security and sovereignty of the nation is under threat. However, multiple times this law has been misused and weaponized against political rivals, or anyone who uses their free speech by criticizing the government. This law has been used to suppress free speech since British Era and the saga continues till now.

Data provided by National Crime Records Bureau suggests that cases of sedition have grown over the years. In 2014, a total number of 47 cases were registered under sedition charges, and that number increased from 47 to 93 in 2019. It may have increased even more in between these past 2 years.

Anirban Recieving Support

This sedition case filed against Mr. Anirban Roy Choudhury is being called out as a threat against Independent journalism and is being criticized by many in the valley. Journalists and ordinary citizens alike on their social media handles are extending their support to Mr. Anirban Roy Choudhury. They are also stating that this case is not just against him but against unbiased journalism as a whole.

It should be noted that Mr. Anirban Roy Choudhury received multiple threats for publishing the article as informed by him days ago on his social media handle. Before founding Barak Bulletin, he was a Journalist for NDTV, Financial Express and DNA India. Within the few years of its inception, Barak Bulletin became one of the trusted and reputed online media portal of Barak Valley. Barak Bulletin & Mr. Choudhury will be tried for sedition soon.

Disclaimer

This article was written by me for Silchar Live. Any similarities between this article and the article available at SilcharLive's portal is because both are the same, with this one having more information on Sedition History. The one at SilcharLive is the edited version where the history of Sedition was excluded, and this is the complete version. It is not a case of plagiarism.