AHMADABAD: Indian Supreme Court judge Justice Deepak Gupta has said the criticism of executive, judiciary, bureaucracy or armed forces is not an act of sedition. He also mentioned that the threat of contempt action stifles fair criticism of the judiciary, the 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 "Law of Sedition in India and Freedom of Expression". He said "the judiciary is not above criticism. If judges of the superior courts are 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 then there will be improvement. Besides criticism there must be introspection too which helps us correct several decisions.
“Criticism of the executive, the judiciary, the bureaucracy or the armed forces cannot be termed sedition. If we attempt to stifle criticism of the institutions be it the legislature, the executive or the judiciary or other bodies of the state, we shall become a police state instead of a democracy and that goes against the thinking of the founding fathers." Notably, Justice Gupta mentioned 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- year 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 highlights the misuse of power.
“In Manipur, a journalist made a vituperative attack on the chief minister of the state and used totally non parliamentary language against the prime minister. The language was intemperate and uncalled for but that again was not the 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 and shockingly that image was morphed five years ago. What was the hurry to suddenly arrest that man after five years? A rapper who does not even live in India was 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 was booked under sections 153 and 153A IPC for inciting caste enmity because alleged remarks against the Chola Dynasty King for being caste oppressive. This Chola Dynasty King lived over a thousand years ago.”
