I
am writing this blog but at the same time i am horrified if I am also put under
the act of SEDITION for supporting Assem. This is the new way of living in
India these days. You cannot speak in the public, you cannot express your views
on the social media and you also cannot keep yourself in contact with your
loved ones on phone. This is Freedom of Speech in my country these days where
you have the freedom but not to talk.
After all the raucousness on Social sites, protests and
mobile phones now this is a new way you can't make cartoons also. You make a
cartoon of a politician, Mamta sends you to Jail, bans your book and that is
perfectly fine. You make a cartoon and you are behind the bars with the charge of
sedition ( Deshdroh) on you.
Yes, i am talking about the Assem Trivedi who has been sent to
judicial custody under the act of sedition. Let’s first see what the act of
sedition actually means.
Sedition
Sec 124 A 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.
I do not know much about law but I, at least,
know that when you are talking about law it is all about INTENTION and motive.
A person is called a criminal if he has done that crime with a strong intention
of doing that with open mind.
Now let’s see the case of Assem. He made a cartoon in
December 2011 which was an insult to the Indian constitution, as reportedly
said. Ok even if I am agree on this fact than the question raises that does
this act puts him in the same league of AZMAL KASAB or AFZAL GURU two people
who are being prosecuted under the law of Sedition.
·
Did his intention was to overthrow
the state or Indian government by his cartoons as the other two did?
·
Did he want to incite people to
become aggressive and start disrupting the Indian democracy?
·
Did he want to kill people or harm
the public by his cartoons?
·
Did his cartoons make any loss to
the country, harm a single citizen of this nation, and shed a single drop of
blood on roads?
Answere to all the question is NO. and when his intentions
were not wrong and when his cartoons did not harm anyone then on what grounds
he was charged with Sedition.
Yes, there are different views and opinions and we can have a
debate on this in the country. He could have asked to explain his views, He
could have asked to take his cartoons back, he could have even asked to apologize
but charging a young man with the act of DESH DROH is a big time harsh decision
for him. He is not a KASAB or AFZAL.
I strongly condemn this act of Police to arrest him with the charge
of Sedition and putting him behind the bars. This act of Sedition is patently
misused here. This will ignite a new debate in the country and the consequences
would be much more than what we could see now.
