Minister of State for Home G. Kishan Reddy informed the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday that the Central government never lodged false cases against anyone despite difference of opinion as witnessed during Citizenship (Amendment) Act agitation and the ongoing farmers protest.
He said that Centre had not stopped anyone from expressing their views within the framework of the Constitution.
The Minister was responding to a question by Manoj Kumar Jha of the Rashtriya Janata Dal whether the government planned to train policemen to differentiate between critique of government and critique of nation as large number of sedition cases ended in acquittal.
Chhaya Verma of the Congress had asked if the government planned to amend Section 124 A of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) framed by the British.
Mr. Reddy said that the IPC was enacted vide Act 45 of 1860. “Section
124 A (sedition) was inserted by Act 27 of 1870 and further amended in the years 1937, 1948, 1950, Act 3 of 1951 and Act 26 of 1955. This is not a new Act, we are going to make big reforms, a committee has been constituted to suggest changes to IPC, seeking inputs from all stakeholders,” he said.
Ms. Verma said though there had been a 165% increase in sedition cases, only 2 % ended in conviction “The cases of sedition was not tabulated in NCRB [National Crime Records Bureau] earlier, after the Modi government came to power we started tabulating it separately. 130 crore population... people comment on India’s integrity through social media. The cases are not much, only in double digits, convictions not determined by government, but courts,” he responded.
KTS Tulsi of the Congress asked how the government would ensure that Section 124 A IPC was not used to muzzle freedom of press and speech. “Centre does not order any State to take action under this law, this law is in existence since Congress time, in Congress-ruled Rajasthan, nine cases of sedition were registered in 2015. States lodge these cases, Centre does not give any direction.”
According to data provided by the Home Ministry in the Rajya Sabha between the years 2015-19, the number of persons arrested under sedition stood at 73, 48, 228, 56 and 96. The number of persons acquitted under sedition charges between 2015-19 stood at 11, 1, 7, 21, 29 and those who were convicted during the same period were 0, 1, 4, 2 and 2 respectively.
