Guwahati: BJP-ruled Assam has topped the list in the country, registering cases under ‘offences against the state’ segment, including sedition charges, according to the latest National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data.
According to the NCRB data, Assam registered a total of 35 cases of ‘offences against the state’ against 36 persons in 2021.
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In the ‘offences against the state’ segment, the NCRB has included five Indian Penal Code sections.
These are 124A (sedition), 121 (waging or attempting to wage war), 121A (conspiracy to commit offences punishable by section 121), 122 (collecting arms to wage war) and 123 (concealing to facilitate design to wage war).
In May this year, the Supreme Court had put on hold the penal law under Section 124A of the IPC.
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Last year, Assam registered three sedition cases against three persons, while it lodged 32 FIRs under the other four IPC sections and named 33 persons in those, NCRB said.
The revelation of the NCRB data has drawn sharp criticism from the opposition and legal experts.
They alleged Assam government is using stringent provisions of law to “suppress the voice of dissent” with the help of a “police raj”.
Leader of the Opposition Debabrata Saikia said there are many examples in the state where sedition cases have been slapped for minor offences.
He said the BJP government in Assam did not follow Supreme Court guidelines in registering such cases.
The Assam government has unleashed a police raj in the state and harassing people unnecessarily, said the senior Congress leader.
Raijor Dal president and MLA Akhil Gogoi claimed that most of the cases registered for ‘offences against the state’ are related to public comments made on social media like Facebook.
“People are being booked for even simple criticism of the government. The police files sedition cases more when someone criticises communalism and the failure of the economy. However, the chief minister many times later ordered the withdrawal of some cases,” Gogoi added.
Gauhati High Court Advocate Santanu Borthakur said the trend of criminalising the dissenting voice is rising.
“Even comments made on social media are termed seditious and people are jailed. The NCRB data shows that the state is weaponising the laws to suppress the voice of dissent,” he added.