The Bombay High Court on Friday came down heavily on the Mumbai police for booking cartoonist Aseem Trivedi for sedition.
“Why didn’t you apply your mind before charging him with sedition and arresting him? Today you arrested a cartoonist. Tomorrow it will be a filmmaker or a screenplay writer. We live in a free society and enjoy freedom of speech and expression. Sedition is a pre-independence [law],” a Division Bench of Justices D. Y. Chandrachud and Amjad Sayyed said, during the hearing of a public interest litigation petition filed by lawyer Sanskar Marathe.
Hailing Mr. Trivedi, who was recently released on bail following the court’s orders, for his “courageous” stand, the Bench criticised the police action as frivolous and arbitrary.
“You cannot arrest anyone on frivolous grounds. You arrest a cartoonist under sedition and detain and breach his liberty. Have you read 124A [of the IPC]?”
The court asked the government to clarify whether it intended dropping the sedition charge.
“Someone has to take political responsibility.”
The petition sought unconditional release of the Kanpur-based cartoonist and the quashing of the sedition charge.
The court posted the matter to October 12. It underlined the need for laying down parameters for invoking Section 124.
Keywords: Aseem Trivedi arrest, cartoonist arrest, sedition charge, freedom of expression, Bombay High Court, Mumbai Police
The police could not have acted wihout orders from their political bosses. The politician(s) responsible for giving the orders also must be held accountable.
It is not that the Police are not aware of law. But they listen to the
voice of their masters. They are helpless. After all, they cannot refuse
orders from above in which case Police may be a different force.
Bombay High court has done Indian judiciary proud. If Police are wrong
what about the Magistrate who has accepted the charge of sedition. This
is India where arrest warrant was issued for shri Abdul Kalam also . Let
us see the developments.
The court is right in stating that for evry Aseem Trivedi, there are 1000 other cases foisted on the common man which goes undetected.The police in the country is a joke and is meant to serve political masters only. The lawyer would filed the complaint is also a culprit and if dug deeper would come out as a member of a political establishment. Independence of the police and quick judicial processes are the need of the hour.
Events like this will strenghthen the common man's belief in our judiciary.
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