Sedition case filed against Amnesty International

Acting on a complaint filed by ABVP on Saturday, police have charged Amnesty International India under Section 124A of the IPC.

Karnataka : Bengaluru : 14/08/2016 : Police arresting members of ABVP after the staged prost against Kashmir's 'Broken Families' event organised by Amnesty International at United Theological College, in Bengaluru on Sunday 14th August 2016. Photo : Sudhakara Jain.

The police on Monday filed cases, including one of sedition, against the organisers of a programme held on Saturdat that sought to project the human suffering of the Kashmir conflict.

Acting on a complaint filed by the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) on Saturday, the J.C. Nagar police charged Amnesty International India under Section 124A of the Indian Penal Code, which defines sedition as brings or attempts to bring into hatred or contempt, or excites or attempts to excite disaffection towards the Government of India.

Unnamed representatives of the non-government organisation were also booked under Sections 142,143, 147, 149 (unlawful assembly and rioting) and Section 153a (promoting enmity between groups).

A senior police official said the police were investigating the veracity of the complaint and would fix culpability based on videos of the event, which signalled the start of Amnesty International India’s Broken Families campaign. It saw tempers run high between groups of persons over the narratives of the Army. The programme had ended with groups breaking into pro-India and pro-Kashmir independence sloganeering.