Sedition Charge On Celebs Dropped, But Why Charge Them At All?

Is dissent seditious? If you disagree with your government, are you automatically committing sedition? That’s what we’re looking at in this edition of The Big Story.

(Photo: Altered by The Quint)

What is sedition?

“Whoever by words or signs or otherwise brings or attempts to bring hatred, contempt, or disaffection towards the government.”

That’s more or less what the Indian Penal Code says on the matter.

So, imagine the surprise (and not a very good one at that) when 49 eminent personalities including Mani Ratnam, Anurag Kashyap, Shyam Benegal, and Ramachandra Guha, who wrote an open letter to Prime Minister Modi about the increasing incidence of lynchings and persecution of minorities... had an FIR slapped against them for sedition!

Is dissent seditious? If you disagree with your government, are you automatically committing sedition? That’s what we’re looking at in this edition of The Big Story.