New Delhi: The Bombay high court (HC) questioned the Mumbai Police for adding charges of sedition under section 124A of the Indian Penal Code in the case against Kangana Ranaut, LiveLaw reported.

An FIR was filed against Ranaut and her sister Rangoli Chandel for allegedly “trying to create hatred and communal tension” through their social media posts, following which the actress filed a plea seeking to quash the FIR against them.

Expressing concerns over the 'trend' of invoking sedition charges in FIRs, Justice Shinde asked senior counsel Rizwan Merchant, who was representing Mumbai Police, "If anybody doesn't not fall in line within the government, will that be sedition?"

“Are you treating citizens of the country like this? 124A?” asked Justice Shinde. “We understand other sections. But 124A?” he reiterated his question.

“Why the police is invoking section 124A IPC in such cases? In many cases, 124A is invoked. You conduct proper workshops for officers as to which sections should be invoked,” Justice Shinde told the prosecutor, Hindustan Times reported.

Also read: Reading the Evolution of Censorship and Sedition in India

The court granted interim protection to the sisters from arrest. It directed them to appear before Mumbai Police on January 8.

Misuse of the sedition law has been widely documented in India, despite the Supreme Court's clear instructions in the past. As The Wire has previously reported, the Supreme Court has repeatedly ruled that sedition is constituted by written or spoken words which “have the effect of bringing contempt or dissatisfaction or the idea of subverting government by violent means”. In Kedar Nath Singh v State of Bihar, the apex court said that if comments, however strongly worded, do not have the tendency to incite violence, cannot be treated as sedition.

The court also ruled in Balwant Singh v State of Punjab that raising pro-Khalistan slogans cannot amount to sedition as it evoked no response from the other members of the community.

The Twenty First Law Commission, in a working paper, also noted that criticising the government does not amount to sedition and that “people have a right to express dissent and criticise the government”. It said a higher threshold should be set to prosecute people for sedition law. “Sedition as an act of trying to destabilise the government should only be invoked in cases where there is a real threat or actual use of violent means to overthrow the democratically elected government,” the report said.

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