I PLEAD GUILTY OF SEDITION

ARVIND KEJRIWAL

To:

Dr. Manmohan Singh

The Hon’ble Prime Minister of India
South Block, Raisina Hill
New Delhi
India – 110 101
Telephone: 91-11-23012312
Fax: 91-11-23019545 / 91-11-23016857

Smt. Pratibha Devisingh Patil

The Hon’ble President of India
Rashtrapati Bhavan
New Delhi
India – 110 004
Telephone : 91-11-23015321
Fax : 91-11-23017290 / 91-11-23017824

Dr. Raman Singh

The Hon’ble Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh
Room No. 303
Mantralaya
D.K.S. Bhavan
Raipur,
India – 492 001
Fax: +91 771 2221206

The judgement in Binayak Sen case has raised several issues which are
extremely critical for Indian democracy and important for every Indian.
I am not writing this to defend Binayak Sen. I am sure that he will
finally be exonerated as the case rests on weak conjectures rather than
on legally admissible evidence.
I am writing this because I am deeply concerned that the laws under
which he has been convicted can be used against any one of us; and
at anytime, pretty much anyone could be convicted and sent behind
bars, if we become too inconvenient for our politicians, bureaucrats
and industrialists.
After this judgement, I actually read all the sections under which
Binayak Sen has been convicted. He has been convicted of “sedition”.
Section 124A of IPC defines “sedition” as
124A. Sedition – Whoever, by words, either spoken or written, or by
signs, or by visible representation, or otherwise, brings or attempts to
bring into hatred or contempt, or excites or attempts to excite
disaffection towards, the government established by law in India, shall
be punished with imprisonment for life, to which fine may be added,
or with imprisonment which may extend to three years, to which fine
may be added, or with fine.
Explanation 1 – The expression “disaffection” includes disloyalty and
all feelings of enmity.
Explanation 2 – Comments expressing disapprobation of the measures
of the government with a view to obtain their alterations by lawful
means, without exciting or attempting to excite hatred, contempt or
disaffection, do not constitute an offence under this section.
Explanation 3 – Comments expressing disapprobation of the
administrative or other action of the government without exciting or
attempting to excite hatred, contempt or disaffection, do not
constitute an offence under this section.
Therefore, sedition is defined as an act which causes contempt or
hatred or disaffection against the “government” – not against the
“country” or the “constitution”.
Most of us working against corruption and injustice in and by various
governments could be easily prosecuted and successfully convicted
under the above section because we often criticize various
governments in the strongest imaginable terms. It’s a fine line and
completely open to interpretation as to what constitutes mere criticism
and what amounts to “hatred”. Going strictly by the language of this
section of the law, one can easily argue that all our opposition parties
no matter which party might be in power very often do everything
possible to spread “disaffection” against the government in power.
Therefore, all opposition leaders at some point or the other have been
guilty of “sedition”.
While this section of the law can be fairly easily misused to suppress
genuine dissent and democratic freedoms, it does not treat grave
offences, which have the potential of destabilizing Indian economy, as
“sedition”. For example, take the case of the recent 2G scam which is
believed to have caused a mind-boggling loss of Rs 1.76 lakh crores
toour country. This is almost 25% of annual Gross Tax Receipts of
Government of India. Therefore, the individuals concerned almost
threatened the economic sovereignty of India. Interestingly, this is not
sedition. This is “corruption”, which invites the same punishment as
would be awarded to a Railway Ticket Inspector who takes Rs 1000
bribe to give a railway ticket. How ridiculous is that?
IPC was written in 1860 by the British! If you think back to the British
times these laws made perfect sense as it suited their basic objectives.
The intended purpose of these laws was to ensure that the British
rulers could economically plunder India while ensuring that no native
of India stood in the way of achieving these goals. Anyone who
resisted these efforts was automatically a traitor in the eyes of the
British rulers and their activities were declared as “sedition”.
Section 120B of IPC is another section under which Binayak Sen has
been convicted. This Section 120B refers of criminal conspiracy. If
anyone conspires in a crime, he is liable for the same punishment as is
the person committing the original crime.
The Nira Radia tapes show how many of the journalists, several
businessmen and a number of politicians were collectively involved in
lobbying to plant their favoured person as the minister who will serve
their vested interest, thus making a mockery of our democratic set up
and threatening India’s political and economic stability. The tapes
indicate that our cabinet positions are effectively available for sale!
Isn’t this a fundamental threat to our constitution?
All these individuals are certainly guilty of criminal conspiracy under
section 120B read with the Prevention of Corruption Act and should be
tried as such, even under the present laws.
In the case of the 2G scam, wasn’t the Prime Minister of India fully
aware of the corrupt practices of the Telecom Minister in his cabinet? If
so, wasn’t it his constitutional duty to intervene? Did he turn a blind
eye? Did he try to protect the Minister’s misdeeds? Why did he stall on
the request of Dr Subramaniam Swamy for more than eleven months
seeking permission to prosecute the Telecom Minister? Why didn’t the
CBI, which operates directly under the Prime Minister, investigate the
case for almost a year after registering the FIR despite strong
displeasure expressed by the Supreme Court on several occasions?
Why did the CBI start moving only when the Court decided to monitor
the CBI’s investigations? Shouldn’t such abetment and protection by
the Prime Minister amount to sedition? Unfortunately, the British laws
under which independent India functions do not treat such serious
charges as sedition.
At a minimum, the PM is guilty of criminal conspiracy under section
120B read with the Prevention of Corruption Act and criminal breach of
trust and should be tried as such even under the present laws.
The reality is that the role of none of the above players would even be
honestly investigated because the CBI, which is the agency responsible
for investigating and prosecuting them, works directly under the
command of the accused. Even if they were tried and convicted, they
would be guilty of “corruption”, which carries a punishment of six
months to a maximum of seven years.
The media has been replete with stories of how Chief Ministers in
power − Dr. Raman Singh, Yedurappa, and Naveen Patnaik, to name a
few – are responsible for the sale of minerals of this country at
throwaway prices. They are apparently giving licenses for mining, not
because these minerals are needed for India, but for exporting most of
these minerals. On one hand, many countries have put restrictions on
export of their minerals to preserve them for their own future needs,
our politicians are facilitating exports of our minerals at throwaway
prices. For instance, the state gets a royalty and cess of Rs 64 per ton
of bauxite mined, cost of mining is roughly Rs 160 per ton and the
mining company sells it in international market at more than Rs 1000
per ton. Likewise, cost of mining iron ore is Rs 300, the state has been
getting a royalty of Rs 27 per ton of ore and the companies sell it in
international market at more than Rs 5000 per ton. The economics of
mining of almost all minerals is as absurd to say the least. Not just
that, mining companies, with full knowledge of the government
agencies, mine much more illegally than they are permitted. Illegal
mining is so rampant that it is feared that some of our mines would be
completely depleted within the next few years. Royalty rates are fixed
by the central government. Licenses and permissions are given
together by both the central and the state governments. Sadly, even
inter-party antagonism does not stand in the way when it comes to
corruption at the expense our natural resources. Complete bonhomie
is evident between the BJP in the states and the Congress at the centre
in these corrupt dealings.
Aren’t all these honourable Chief Ministers, who are acting in collusion
with the various ministries of the Central Government, guilty of
sedition/ criminal conspiracy? They are doing precisely what their
British predecessors did. Loot this country and take the wealth out of
the country. Since we work under the same British laws, their loot is
not a serious crime but anyone who dares to “hate” their activities or
resist them and incite “contempt” or “disaffection” against such open
loot of the country is “sedition”. How can one call himself an Indian
and not “hate” such practices?
We fought against British not because of the colour of their skin but
also because of the exploitative character of their government.
Unfortunately, the character of the present governments has become
far more exploitative.
The judgement in the Binayak Sen case clearly raises a larger issue
about our legal system and its interpretations – what exactly is
tantamount to a serious crime under theIndian law? Under our present
legal system, economic plundering of our precious national resources
and invaluable revenue streams is a petty offence called “corruption”.
But anyone who resists that or “hates” such practices is guilty of
“sedition”. Surely, while this makes no sense whatsoever.
The 2G scam, the Nira Radia tapes, and the mining scandal are just
three examples from very recent times that highlight the fallacies
surrounding our legal systems and the desperate need for complete
reform.
These laws are no longer suited to modern-day India. It protects those
in power and gives them the freedom to use these laws against
innocent people when it suits their convenience or to stifle dissent
when so desired. In fact, it helps those in power to continue the
economic plunder of the country, as was done by the British, under the
guise of “democracy”. They need such complete overhauls that it
would not be an exaggeration if I say that we need to overthrow them
and replace them with systems which are far more democratic and in
tune with the aspirations of the people of an independent India.
While the Binayak Sen’s case has hit the headlines, there are many
lesser known people, some of whom are tribals, who have been
unfortunately languishing in jails due to these laws. It is learnt that
many of them are in jails for several years without any trial. Some of
them have not been produced in courts even once.
We demand complete overhaul of this legal system. Plunder of
economic and natural resources of India should be declared as
“sedition”. Having disaffection against such loot and human rights
abuses should be termed as patriotism rather than sedition. And all
the players mentioned above who have either looted the country or
have abetted the same should be tried for sedition, criminal conspiracy
and criminal breach of trust.
I wish to declare that I have strong “disaffection” for the government of
India, thegovernment of Chhattisgarh and all other governments which
indulge in corruption, human rights abuses and inflict injustices upon
its people. I have “contempt” for many of their policies. I “hate” many
of the systems prevalent in these governments. I call upon the people
of India to likewise have “disaffection” against these governments. I
will do everything at my command and with all the energy, strength
and resources at my disposal to resist such unjust and deprecatory
systems. I “hate” this system and am doing everything to spread
“hatred” against this system amongst public.
But I love my country – India. I love the natives of my country – my
fellow Indians. In my own humble ways, I have been working towards
fighting injustices and for the welfare of my countrymen. But I will
continue to have strong “disaffection” against successiveIndian
Governments as long as they persist with their unjust and corrupt
practices.
Under section 124A of IPC, I am guilty of “sedition” and I plead guilty
of the same. Jai Hind!