What is Sedition?
More than 70 years after the country got freedom, the country’s democracy is in danger. We are in a period where the Central Government is run by a party that believes that there should not be any objection to its policies and where dissidence is deemed as sedition. A period where we need to analyze the significance of the word ‘nation’ and what is meant by ’conspiring against nation’. According to the Centre, supporting peaceful protests that are taking place in the country amounts to sedition. It is a crime for citizens to raise voices against injustice and inequality. For committing this ‘crime’, 21-year old environmental activist Disha Ravi has been arrested and taken into custody by the Delhi police. Her crime was putting together a ‘toolkit’ that describes how to support the farmers’ agitation that is against the three recent farm laws. This ‘tool kit’ has been shared by global environmental activist Greta Thurnberg and other celebrities.
While Disha Ravi is arrested and taken into custody for the toolkit that was shared by Greta and others (there is no information whether permission from the Karnataka police was obtained for this), at the same time, former DySP Davinder Singh facing charges of terrorism walks out of jail on bail. Hundreds of such instances can be provided. A Saadhvi who is arrested on charges of terrorism and bomb blast is released and then elected to the Lok Sabha and continues to retain her seat even after supporting the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi. In the absence of official pronouncement of Emergency, this country has witnessed incidents where famous poet Varavara Rao, eminent thinker and author of several books on Ambedkar Anand Teltumbe, leader of human rights activists and lawyer Sudha Bharadwaj have been jailed and facing false cases of sedition while forged documents have been and planted in the mobile phone and personal computer of activist Rona Wilson.
The peaceful protests of farmers in New Delhi for the past two and a half months against the farm laws that seek to push the country’s farm markets into the arms of corporates have received support both nationally and internationally. All attempts and conspiracies to defeat the protests have failed. The conspiracy to defame farmers by making them responsible for the action of a few miscreants who were allowed to hoist the flag on the Red Fort on Republic Day came a cropper. Over the past few months, the country has witnessed how farmers were invited for talks while at the same time they were ridiculed or how those who supported the farmers’ agitation were arrested and imprisoned. The arrest of Disha Ravi, carried out only to make sure that the country’s citizens, especially youth, do not support the farmers’ agitation, reflects the government’s frustration and its dictatorial attitude.
Now, the country is not in an Emergency. But those who claim they fought Emergency in 1975 are in power. By trying to repeatedly muzzle differences and resistance, the government is resorting to authoritarian ways even without imposing Emergency. As the Constitutional bodies have also become inert, justice seems a mirage for innocent people. It appears that the huge corporate lobby has control over the government. The way people are being arrested, the whole country might turn into a prison soon. But this will not continue for long. We have many examples of countries where people’s voices are muzzled through policies of repression but it cannot be forgotten that such governments pay a heavy price. The government must immediately stop its dictatorial methods and respond to the farmers’ peaceful protests by meeting their demands, and releasing the young environmental activist.
A situation has been created in the country where everyone other than those in power have to bear the allegations of sedition. Not only Disha Ravi. They have not spared persons of the likes of popular journalist Rajdeep Sardesai and MP Shashi Tharoor. Questioning the act of selling public sector undertakings at throwaway price is an act of sedition. Opposing demonetization is sedition. Condemning atrocities against Dalits is sedition. Supporting farmers agitation is sedition. Not just this, in their view, Gandhi is a traitor. Nehru is a traitor. Who then is a patriot? Those who kill innocents on the pretext of transporting cattle, those who worship the assassin of Gandhi, those who raid and attack places of worship of the minorities and those who sponsor such events are seen as patriots. Such an autocratic repressive regime on the likes of Hitler’s will not continue for long. It is high time the government rectified its mistakes and provided governance that is appropriate for a democracy.
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Delhi HC directs Wikipedia to remove page with defamatory content on ANI
New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Wednesday ordered Wikimedia Foundation to remove the allegedly defamatory content and description of news agency Asian News International (ANI) on its Wikipedia page.
Justice Subramonium Prasad, who heard the petition, disposed of ANI’s plea for interim injunction asking for an order for the removal of the content and also to restrain Wikipedia from publishing the matter on the news agency's page on its platform.
In addition, ANI has filed a Rs 2 crore defamation suit against Wikimedia Foundation for posting the content on the page, which says that ANI ‘has been criticized for having served as a propaganda tool for the incumbent central government, distributing materials from a vast network of fake news websites, and misreporting events.’
The news agency has accused Wikimedia Foundation of publishing false and defamatory content with an intention of tarnishing the agency’s reputation and to discredit its goodwill.
The Delhi HC had directed Wikipedia in August 2024 to disclose to ANI the subscriber details of the three individuals available with it within two weeks.
Wikipedia, however, challenged the court order before the division bench, which later ordered that the page in question be taken down. The bench noted that adverse comments were made against the single judge on the page, saying it was prima facie contemptuous.
Wikipedia's petition in court was disposed of after both the parties entered into a consent order and resolved the matter. The division bench asked the single judge to proceed ahead with the defamation suit. In November, Justice Prasad had issued summons to three individuals who had allegedly edited the Wikipedia page of ANI.
Recently, the Supreme Court issued notice following Wikipedia's appeal against the order of the division bench to remove the Wikipedia page relating to the defamation dispute.
Senior advocate Jayant Mehta argued in the High Court on behalf of Wikipedia during the hearing on Wednesday, while advocate Sidhant Kumar represented ANI.
