Kanhaiya Kumar’s speech not sedition: Mihir Desai

In the backdrop of a controversy surrounding JNU students’ union president Kanhaiya Kumar, noted lawyer Mihir Desai said even if he had shouted slogans against the government, he could not be charged under sedition according to the Supreme Court guidelines. Mr Desai was addressing a gathering on the subject of ‘Sedition and the spectre of the anti-national’ at YB Chavan Auditorium in Nariman Point on Sunday.

“The Kanhaiya episode is a repetition of the Gandhian blunder by (Prime Minister Narendra) Modiji, Amit Shah and Smriti Irani. As someone had once said, some people grow physically but not mentally,” Mr Desai said.

“Gandhiji was also arrested under this law by the British government, who thought they could propagate their ideas this way. But this was their biggest blunder. Similarly Lokmanya Tilak had been arrested under this law in 1897 when he had written against the government’s handling of the plague in Bombay Province,” he said.

He pointed out that in the pre-independence era one could be charged with sedition if they spread disaffection against the government by means of speech. “The SC, while passing a judgement on the Kedarnath case in 1962 had said that this law needs to be seen in a diluted manner. According to the SC, a person can be charged with sedition if spreading disaffection against the government leads to violence and public disorder,” Mr Desai said.

He further added, “This was not a case whether he shouted slogans or not. Even if he did, it did not amount to sedition. We may disagree with him, but unless it caused violence, it was not sedition. Section 124 (A) has to go, just like Section 377 should be abolished. The UK government has abolished both, but we haven’t. There are enough other provisions to deal with such cases,” he added.

Mr Desai said he hoped and wished that people put an equal amount of energy to release those persons who are still behind bars.