Criticism of executive, army judiciary not sedition: ISC

[ahlam1399]

AHMADABAD: Indian Supreme Court judge Justice Deepak Gupta has said that criticism Of executive, judiciary, bureaucracy or armed forces is not an act of sedition. He also mentioned about the threat of contempt action stifling fair criticism of the judiciary, international media reported.He was speaking at a workshop organised by Praleen Public Charitable Trust at Ahmedabad, Gujarat. Justice Deepak Gupta spoke at length on the topic "Law of Sedition in India and Freedom of Expression"."The judiciary is not above criticism. If judges of the superior courts were to take note of all the contemptuous communications received by them, there would be no work other than the contempt proceedings. In fact, I welcome criticism of the judiciary because only if there is criticism, there will be improvement. Not only should there be criticism but there must be introspection. When we introspect, we will find that many decisions taken by us need to be corrected.“Criticism of the executive, the judiciary, the bureaucracy or the Armed Forces cannot be termed sedition. In case we attempt to stifle criticism of the institutions whether it be the legislature, the executive or the judiciary or other bodies of the State, we shall become a police State instead of a democracy and this the founding fathers never expected this country to be.”Notably, Justice Gupta mentioned about the recent incidents of application of criminal law against rapper Hard Kaur, Bengal BJP leader Priyanka Sharma, Manipur journalist Kishorchandra Wangkhem, Tamil film director Pa Ranjith etc, for voicing their opinions.“In Chhattisgarh, a 53 years old man was arrested on charges of sedition for allegedly spreading rumours over social media about power cuts in the State. It was said that this was done to tarnish the image of the then Government running the State. The charge was absurd and again highlights the misuse of power.“In Manipur, a journalist made a vituperative attack on the chief minister of the state and used totally unparliamentary language against the Prime minister of the country. The language was intemperate and uncalled for but this was not a case of sedition. It was at best a case of criminal defamation. The man was kept behind bars for months under the National Security Act.“In West Bengal, a party leader was arrested for morphing an image of the chief minister and in UP, a man was arrested for morphing the image of the prime minister of the country and shockingly this image had been morphed five years back. What was the hurry to suddenly arrest this man after five years? A rapper who does not even live in India has been charged for sedition. The language used by her may be totally uncalled for, some other offences may be made out, but sedition does not appear to be one of them. In another extreme case, a film maker in Tamil Nadu has been booked under Sections 153 and 153A IPC for inciting caste enmity because he allegedly made remarks against the Chola Dynasty King for being caste oppressive. This Chola Dynasty King lived more than a thousand years back.”http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/com/cwEr/~4/Y4jWMpUT1QA

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