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Recommended Changes in India’s Sedition Law May Intensify Government’s War Against Dissent

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The Pulse | Politics | South Asia

Recommended Changes in India’s Sedition Law May Intensify Government’s War Against Dissent

A mere inclination to incite violence rather than proof of actual violence or imminent threat to violence is reason for conviction under the suggested expanded scope of the law.

Recommended Changes in India’s Sedition Law May Intensify Government’s War Against Dissent

In this Feb. 4, 2020 photo, an Indian woman holds a candle and placard during a protest against the sedition case filed by police against a school after students performed a play denouncing a new citizenship law, in Bangalore, India.

Credit: AP Photo/Aijaz Rahi

The Law Commission of India (LCI)’s recent report recommending retention of India’s sedition law covered by Section 124A of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and providing for further expansion of its scope through suggested amendments has earned it a flood of criticism. Legal experts, members of civil society and political observers fear that it will aid the government in stifling critical voices.

According to the recommended amendments, a person’s “tendency to incite violence or cause public disorder” is a good enough reason to convict him or her while facing the charges of “attempting to bring into hatred or contempt, or excites or attempts to excite disaffection towards, the Government established by law in India.” The punishment could be life imprisonment or seven years in jail and may include imposition of fines.

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