Delhi: In last 8 years, 10 booked under sedition charges

New Delhi: Ten persons were booked under sedition charges between January 1, 2010, and December 31, 2018, stated the Delhi police special cell data.

The data showed that the special cell also arrested five Maoists during the same period.

The data also shows that two foreign agents of Pakistan’s notorious spy agency — Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) — were arrested by the Delhi police special cell during this period in the national capital.

The Delhi police earlier claimed that the left-wing extremists and ISI were planning to strike in Delhi-NCR. The police has recovered a large cache of arms and explosives from their possession, said sources.

The government said that activists and sympathisers of Maoists are making repeated attempts to penetrate into urban areas and succeeding. Mass organisations are operating under the garb of human rights NGOs. These are manned by ideologues, including academicians and activists.

The ISI is trying to lure Indian personnel by honeytrapping them and now it is on the lookout for snaring them young.

Meanwhile, the sedition law has been facing severe criticism by a section of society who accused law enforcement agencies and government of violating the freedom of expression. However, there are some who support the law in restricting those who misuse freedom of expression and use it as a tool to damage the national interest.

Last year, the Law Commission emphasised that dissent and criticism are essential to Indian democracy. It strongly recommended that law enforcement agencies should use the sedition law judiciously and only when it is evident that the accused aim to disrupt public order and overthrow the government by use of violence.

The government or the apex court should make it mandatory for the police to establish that seditious speech or written content has the potential to incite such revolutionary violence before any arrests are made, it said.